Based on the children's book series by Norman Bridwell, the family film centers on a young New Yorker whose tiny new puppy grows to be 10 feet tall overnight.
The film clears, with only a little bit of difficulty, its most obvious hurdle — namely, the fact that it’s one thing for Clifford to be as red as a fire engine and as tall as a house in brightly illustrated children’s books, but another for him to look that way in “live action” . In practice, though, Clifford’s scale renders him so fantastical that he might as well be Bumblebee from.
At the same time, it’s free of the cloying preciousness that mars too many kids’ films. Emily Elizabeth is believably tween-age, better at trying to sound precocious than she is at actually acting wise beyond her years. Her emotional journey is a mild one — Clifford’s sad-puppy eyes provoke coos, not Pixar-level crying jags.
The film’s real secret weapon, however, isn’t much of a secret at all: It’s first-billed star Jack Whitehall, as Emily Elizabeth’s well-meaning but irresponsible uncle. Emily Elizabeth may be the protagonist and Clifford the premise, but Whitehall’s Uncle Casey is the glue holding the entire operation together. His performance sets the film’s tone and calibrates the audience’s reactions . He turns just-OK jokes into laugh-out-loud ones with his loose and spontaneous delivery.
While Casey does, from time to time, shake his head at the absurd situation he’s found himself in, Whitehall never once winks to convey he knows it’s all nonsense. We buy into the film’s magic because he sells it so smoothly. As spells go, it isn’t a particularly rare or elaborate one. But it’s enchanting enough to merit a smile.
Cast: Jack Whitehall, Darby Camp, Tony Hale, Sienna Guillory, David Alan Grier, Russell Wong, John CleeseScreen story by Justin Malen, Ellen RapoportExecutive producers: Brian Oliver, Bradley J. Fischer, Valerii An, Brian Bell, Caitlin Friedman, Deborah Forte, Lisa Crnic
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