Beethoven [G]

In a pet shop window lives a lonely little Saint Bernard puppy that just wants to be adopted into a nice family and home. But the fact that he’s going to grow into a very, very big dog puts off a lot people. However, he gets his chance when two criminals working for a corrupt vet who tests ammunition on animals break into the pet shop and steal all the puppies. Managing to escape from his captors the little puppy wanders into the calm and routine home of the Newton family and before long he’s got a family that loves him, all except the father, George, who grows resentful that his family seems to love the dog, which they name Beethoven, more than him. However, just because George is jealous of Beethoven doesn’t mean he won’t protect him when the corrupt vet comes along with a plan to take Beethoven away from them. 

Before I go into how much I love this movie and how big a part of my childhood it was, I would first like to talk a little bit about nostalgia and films. Obviously revisiting a childhood favourite is going to be peppered with a little bit of bias because nostalgia kicks in and you remember the fun of being a child and watching the movie as opposed to watching it as an adult. However, I would like to say that not all childhood movies stand up in terms of opinion and timelessness, even those peppered with nostalgia. For me, I sat down and revisited A Simple Wish a couple of years ago and it really wasn’t nearly as good or fun as I remembered it to be. I actually found it boring and it definitely didn’t stand the test of time for me. But Beethoven does! 

I’ll be the first to admit that the there isn’t much of a story to speak of and in fact there are a lot of questions, plot holes, and points where its hard to suspend your belief that it turns the story into a real shambles and makes the movie much more about the characters than anything else. Well, at least our cast members, including the kids, all give great performances that make it an intriguing film without a story to watch. 

Charles Grodin as George Newton spends a lot of the time yelling and moaning and he works really well as the central character that conflicts the most with Beethoven. Bonnie Hunt is the mum that we all want and the chemistry between the three kids is great; Ryce, Ted, and Emily, all different ages are obviously very close to one another and Nicholle Tom, Christopher Castile, and Sarah Rose Karr all work wonderfully well together. Especially little Sarah Rose who has the hard task of doing a drowning scene and having to stand up to adults at the age of 5. 

But the real star of the show is Beethoven who is this wonderfully trained, beautiful Saint Bernard who just steals every scene that he’s in. Playing the part of the heroic dog that understands the plights of his family and will do anything to help and protect them, this dog does all manner of tricks including jumping over hedges, swimming to the rescue, and twining his lead in a very strategic manner through chairs and tables and then running off down the street dragging them behind him. The dog was amazing. 

Starring Dean Jones, Patricia Heaton, David Duchovny, Oliver Platt, and Stanley Tucci, Beethoven is a warm and wonderful family movie that’s filled with action, love, adventure, emotional growth, drama, and comedy. Whilst it can be argued that my love of this movie may very well be strongly influenced by nostalgia, I still think it’s an absolute classic like Napoleon, Free Willy, or Homeward Bound (I am so sad that you can’t find those movies on DVD, I used to absolutely adore them growing up.)