Beethoven (1992)

Classic '90s family comedy that is a little bit cookie-cutter, but too charming to pry too much. The Newtons, an upper-middle class Californian family, take in a stray St. Bernard puppy that escaped kidnapping for cruel experimentation. Conflict involves the gentle-giant dog winning the heart of the family's strict and materialistic father (played terrifically by Grodin), topped with staying a step ahead of the evil vet (played by a clean-cut Dean Jones) who is trying to track down his escaped canine. Platt and Tucci are funny as Jones' henchmen, but their effeminacy doesn't seem fitting—would have worked better if maybe they paid a little more homage to Jasper and Horace Badun from ONE HUNRED AND ONE DALMATIONS. Bonnie Hunt couples great with Grodin, but is perhaps slightly underused. All three children are intolerable. Still enjoyable despite its flaws; its replay value can be attributed to Grodin and Dean's performances, plus the story's pet-is-a-member-of-the-family philosophy.*** (out of four)

I was less than six years old when this successful family movie came out, and clearly remember knowing that there was a movie about a dog named Beethoven around this time. I even had the feeling I had seen this film, or at least saw some of it, back in the day, but I guess I was wrong. 1992's "Beethoven", which was followed by "Beethoven's 2nd" in 1993 and several direct-to-video sequels in the 2000's, was only brought back to my attention recently, when I learned that it was co-written by John Hughes, as I have seen a whole bunch of movies from him. When I finally watched this one after nearly two decades, none of it seemed to ring a bell, so I am now convinced I had never seen any of it before. I knew this wouldn't be an amazing film, but maybe it would still be above average to me. However, even that didn't happen.One night, two criminals break into a pet shop, kidnap all the puppies, and take them away in a truck! The puppies soon manage to get out of their cages and escape from the truck while it is in motion, and one of these puppies is a St. Bernard, who hides in a garbage can in a suburban neighbourhood for the rest of the night. Early the following morning, this puppy sneaks into one of the houses in this neighbourhood, which happens to be the house of the Newton family, and this happens while most of the family members are just getting up. The father of this family, George, does not want this St. Bernard puppy to stay here, but his wife, Alice, and children do, so he reluctantly decides to keep the dog until they can find his owner, not realizing that this animal doesn't have one. When Emily, the youngest child in the family, plays a piece by Ludwig van Beethoven, the dog barks along, so it is decided that the dog's name will be Beethoven. Beethoven grows up living with the Newtons, and makes George miserable but the rest of the family happy. Meanwhile, Harvey and Vernon, the two criminals who kidnapped Beethoven from the pet shop, are still on the loose! Herman Varnick, the veterinarian the Newtons take their dog to, is secretly collecting dogs for cruel animal experimentation, and Harvey and Vernon are working as his two henchmen! The main dog in this movie is a cute and lovable mutt, but the human characters generally aren't so outstanding. I especially didn't care much for the irritable father of the Newton family, played by Charles Grodin. He really gets unlikable as he gets so concerned about his business and says some foolish things. Ryce's (the oldest sister) crush on a boy at her school named Mark, and her attempts to get him to notice her (which Beethoven helps her with) are cheesy aspects of the story. It's also not very pleasant watching Ted, the middle son, facing several bullies at school. As a comedy, there are sporadic laughs, with some of the trouble Beethoven causes for George, certain scenes featuring the two kidnappers, Ted thinking he's scaring off the bullies with his fists when it's actually Beethoven scaring them off from behind Ted, etc., but these generally aren't very big laughs, and there aren't enough of them. There are also some completely failed attempts to be funny, such as the "Biker Woman" near the beginning and the part with the irresponsible and annoying babysitter. I also usually found the plot boring, though there certainly are some tense moments towards the end.This early 90's animal movie does have its admirers, but I still can't say I liked it, and since I found it to be so mediocre, I don't intend to watch "Beethoven's 2nd", the theatrically released sequel which came out the year after this first installment in the franchise, and certainly don't intend to watch any of the direct-to-video sequels, either, all of which were made years after the two theatrically released films and were likely just done for money. None of them appear to be popular at all, and I'm sure many fans of this original "Beethoven" movie hate them, or haven't even seen them and don't see any point in doing so. These films are probably a lot like the usually lacklustre direct-to-video sequels to Disney animated features, and I've seen a lot of those. Anyway, this 1992 film that started the franchise and is significantly more popular than all the other installments is probably very entertaining for many kids and their parents, and probably best for that type of audience. Certain others might like it, but that's probably less likely.

The movie overall is an enjoyable one with a good family message. However for some reason the filmmakers decided to throw in sex for some reason. I caught this in the theater and thought that perhaps it would be pulled out when it went to video. It wasn't however. When the father is going to get rid of the dog and so the kids get up very early - at 6:00 AM according to the bedside alarm clock - to give him a bath. Pause when it shows his alarm clock. This clock is featured center in the shot as focus. On one side however is a money clip with a wad of cash and on the other side is a peeled roll candy package. The name is not one we recognize as candy, but rather it is sitting with the letters upside down and spell SEX.

Not a very innovative story, not much new here. Overall, it's pretty bland, but they stuck with a formula that works. Music by Randy Edelman, he of the worthy GETTYSBURG score of a year later.Beethoven dominates the screen, so much so that you don't really get to know the human characters very well, and one feels somewhat disconnected from them. Surprising to see Dean Jones playing a bad guy.For the most part, this is a gentle, inoffensive story. It got a little gross sometimes with Beethoven slobbering all over everything and urinating in George's briefcase, but I guess that's just kid humor of the nineties. I still don't know why they had to name him Beethoven. Just because he barked when she played BEETHOVEN'S FIFTH on the piano? Maybe he was trying to tell her something. Like don't give up her day job.Overall, bland, but not bad. 6 out of 10.