Movie Night: Beethoven's 2nd.

Review #578: Beethoven's 2nd.

Cast
Charles Grodin (George Newton), Bonnie Hunt (Alice Newton), Nicholle Tom (Ryce Newton), Christopher Castile (Ted Newton), Sarah Rose Karr (Emily Newton), Debi Mazar (Regina), Chris Penn (Floyd), Ashley Hamilton (Taylor Devereaux), Danny Masterson (Seth), and Catherine Reitman (Janie) Directed by Rod Daniel.

Review
The sequel only happened due to the first movie's unexpected success (A family flick about a cute dog that's a success? Shocking.), as the main cast returns once again. The movie isn't really anything special, but boy does it try to top the cuteness factor of the first flick with not one, but five new dogs (characters, but whatever) in tow. Grodin is clearly having fun with this role, as do Hunt and the others in a movie that just seemingly goes through the motions of being a family flick with the tinges of teen romance, the dog slapstick humor, people falling into mud, the list goes on. The movie is at least enjoyable, if not just a bag of cliches rolled into one. But yes, the puppies are cute and destructive, so take this movie at your own risk.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Beethoven.

Review #577: Beethoven.

Cast
Charles Grodin (George Newton), Bonnie Hunt (Alice Newton), Dean Jones (Dr. Varnick), Nicholle Tom (Ryce), Christopher Castile (Ted), Sarah Karr (Emily), Oliver Platt (Harvey), Stanley Tucci (Vernon), David Duchovny (Brad), and Patricia Heaton (Brie) Directed by Brian Levant (#491 - Jingle All the Way)

Review
Beethoven is a strange idea to begin with because no only was this produced by Ivan Reitman, this wasn't released in the 1980's. Of all the decades that had story ideas, the 80's had the weirdest, and Beethoven is right up that alley. The 90's? Maybe not as much, but let's get to the question of this review: How is this movie? The movie is probably more cute then good, all because of one big St. Bernard. Charles Grodin is a fun actor to watch because his facial expressions to this weird plot of a movie and his timing is just right. The dog is just a dog, growing from small ball of cuteness to a hug tub of stuff, and he is certainly charming...for a dog. The rest of the cast (insert your David Duchovny X-Files joke here) isn't bad, they certainly work well with each other. The movie has some quirky moments, and while it isn't really that funny, it's a decent family flick, harmless to say the least.

And yes, I will review the sequel soon.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.