I loathe the consensus that just because a work's target demographic is children, that it automatically should be bad or horrible. Children aren't idiots, and are intelligent enough to grasp some heavy topics, such as death, divorce or grief. Disney and Pixar understand this, and many of their projects include messages that both kids and adults can relate to, like "Finding Nemo", "Inside Out" or "Coco."

Honestly, the "Clifford is growing too big so we have to work around him" is exactly what I wished the movie would have been. We've seen Clifford as a puppy, and as a fully grown dog. However, the in-between part where the Howard family starts to realize Clifford is too big for their house, prompting the move to Birdwell Island would have been a great movie. The story would have focused on the relations between the family members (including Emily Elizabeth's dad!) and the sacrifices they're willing to make for the dog they've grown to love. We could have shown the parents house hunting (initially due to perhaps neighbor complaints and eventually due to space), while EE struggles with the exponentially increasing workload of her dog. By the time we see Clifford in the books and cartoons, the Howards have figured out things like bathing, feeding, walking, etc. The movie would have been great to show those growing pains, while still giving the message that it's okay to be different.

Why is this not an animated film? I was hoping we were past the _live-action adaptation of beloved children's media with non-human characters awkwardly inserted through CGI_ trend.

When I first saw the trailer for this I was VERY confused. Because the POINT of Clifford was Emily Elizabeth's LOVE is what made the tiny puppy Clifford grow so big (no magic involved), and the Howard's had to move to Birdwell Island as a direct result. There was no "big magic dog running around the city" plot.

The weirdest choice was to get rid of Emily Elizabeth's dad (and how she got Clifford). Because her dad was more present in the books and the tv show than her mom, iirc.

Amanda, it's a kids' movie. You need to take it this seriously.

There is literally a whole set of stories of Clifford when he was a tiny puppy. It is why it was so significant when he grew. He was a young grown dog when he became big. Also Mary Elizabeth is a confident and smart girl. She is one half of the reason Clifford TBRD series was so beloved. Also I always assumed that since Clifford was a cartoon dog he wasn’t magically red. In the cartoon his best dog friends were purple and yellow. They would not be these colors in a live action. Why didn’t they just make this into a Pixar style movie🤦🏾‍♀️

It's so weird how these kids' movies always tend to focus on some forty-year-old white dude 😭😭😭 like what kid wants to watch a movie about their dad??

Part of why I dislike this movie is: there's SO much more interesting things to talk about in the Clifford verse! THEY TALK IN THE CARTOON?! Like just make a movie about them on the island having some adventure! Pirate movie? If you HAVE to do the NY>Island pipeline make it more about the post-growth and the issues with moving!

There was a series about Clifford as a puppy in the city, before he got big. But he was regular puppy sized. I just don't like how they messed with all the backstory; it made no sense.

There didn't have to be this 'big bad' they could have done the "Inside Out" route where there was no villain, but instead it was a more complex conflict. Emily could have been completely willing to move as Clifford is this cute puppy, but when she is away from friends, somewhere new, doesn't have time doing other hobbies, no friends, the writers could shown EE getting frustrated at Clifford after maybe he destroys something important he runs away. She needs to process the new place, that Clifford is a good dog and could reconnect them her finding him and her adjusting to her new life because she loves Clifford.

i love (hate) the fact that instead of having bridwell give people like, magical service animals that could assist them with their disabilities, the film instead decides to have these animals just. take away their disabilities magically! like thank god this weird dude who is definetly breaking some exotic animal laws gave them some magic cat so that way they dont have to be ~bound to their wheelchair~

I would've loved a movie that explored Emily's sacrifices for Clifford because there are tons of kids that are forced to move constantly, and it comes with its own hardships. Like, never feeling you have a place to call your own. Never able to create long lasting relationships. Never having too much stuff because it's too hard to move. That sense of loneliness and instability despite her love for Clifford is still tough for a kid. It could also lead to a sense of dependency towards Clifford due to him being a stable presence in her life, which could cause more problems of her not even trying to make friends at school anymore.

The intro is my BIGGEST pet peeve with kids movies/content with a younger target audience! Adults aren't the only ones that should have good movies/media. Kids understand when stuff doesn't make sense. Kids deserve to have good content. Content like ATLA has stuck with people my age because it was WONDERFUL content with a good message and compelling storytelling! Kids content doesn't equate to bad content and adult content doesn't necessarily mean the content itself is better.

Actually in Clifford lore, he actually starts out as a really tiny red dog and then grows to become huge. There's a whole prequel series about it called Puppy Days

making clifford the big red dog into a gritty heartwrenching live action movie was NOT the move

I just thought Clifford looked ugly, but hearing how they messed with the OG plot is making me angrier. Seriously though, what's up with hyper-realism? Can we just?? Please go back to stylized animation???? At this point it doesn't cost that much more than hyper-realistic CGI

Wasn’t Clifford’s origin (without including puppy daze) that he was the runt and would pass away if he didn’t get bigger, so she hoped very much he would get bigger but he grew to be huge, so they move to the island?

It looks like puppy Clifford is just a scaled down adult Clifford model, and maybe I just haven't seen enough puppies in my life recently, but I'm pretty sure that puppies have different body proportions than adult dogs.

Rango and Coraline were good kids movies. Very smart and didn’t shy away from real life dangers.

my friends didn't realize how much Clifford i watched as a kid so when they brought it up i went OFF on all the unnecessary changes they added for the movie. i was like IN THE SERIES CLIFFORD'S PUPPY DAYS HE WAS A SMALL PUPPY LIVING IN NEW YORK FOR A LONG TIME BEFORE HE GOT BIG and they were like woah Ro is here dropping the deep Clifford lore

Yep, I completely agree. Just because it's a movie made for children, that doesn't mean it's an excuse to make idiotic asinine drivel that insults the viewers' intelligence. Moviemakers have been producing and releasing complete and utter crap for decades and passing it off as "harmless children's entertainment". It's obvious that little to no effort is put into making them entertaining or thought-provoking. It always sucks when that happens and it really needs to end. Kids aren't stupid. Kids expect more. They deserve more. And I really like it when people with YT channels call out movie studios for continuing to crank out garbage like this. I don't have kids but there are still movies made for kids that I enjoy, a lot of them are made by Disney/Pixar and Dreamworks Entertainment. But they also sometimes release stinkers. They can't all be winners, we know that. So yeah, thanks to you Amanda for doing this video and telling it like it is and saying out loud what needed to be said. Props to you, girl!

It is just me or does it feel like the writers saw Okja by Bong Joon-ho and decided to make a much worse, child-friendly version about Clifford?

Amanda needs to get on Letterboxd if she isn't. She'd make a killing digging into bad kids movies.

I read the original Clifford the Big Red Dog about 100 times as a kid (or had it read to me), and it was semi-magic there. Emily Elizabeth's love was implied to have caused the growth. Also in the middle of the book he has to be shipped out to the country and the two are separated for awhile. Then when Emily Elizabeth sees him again she tells him to stop growing as he is big enough. Seems like that has a lot of what Swell is looking for there.

God i was hoping it was gonna be good. I adored Clifford when I was little and was looking forward to a nostalgia fest of a good time

I’m pretty sure when Scoob was announced, it was also said that it would be the first in a series of movies from the Hannah Barbara/Warner Bros cartoon universe. Imagine if this was the start of a series of hyper-realistic/live action PBS movies. I’m just imagining the nightmare fuel that a hyper-realistic, extremely textured Arthur would be.

Its weird that the good ending here is them staying at the apartment when the literal premise of the actual show was that he grew too big for them to stay at the apartment and they had to move to the island. I loved Clifford as a kid so I guess I'm extra annoyed at the terrible take in addition to the scary looking Clifford monstrosity they managed to create.

there are so many things they could've done that would've been hilarious. you could have her riding Clifford to school and being pulled over by a cop who isn't sure exactly what traffic laws she's violating but there's gotta be SOMETHING. she could attempt to bring him to show and tell and he could sneeze on one of the bullies or like them and mess up their perfect hair or anything that involves goop. SHE COULD'VE DONE A PROJECT CHARTING CLIFFORD'S UNNATURAL GROWTH FOR THE SCIENCE FAIR. All of that would have been more compelling than whatever that was.

for anyone interested, an actually good kids' movie is "the last unicorn." the animation is beautiful and can be appreciated no matter what age you are. as a little kid, i was mostly fascinated by the art and fantasy of it all, but upon rewatching it from an adult perspective, there are some really profound and bittersweet messages in it. for me, only now realizing its themes of loss of innocence and personal change that i simply couldn't grasp as a child is ironic and sad and beautiful all at once. it's not perfect by any means, and i am definitely biased due to my nostalgia and love for this movie, but i still highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. if i ever have kids, they're definitely watching it with me lol

I saw a trailer for this and was immediately horrified and unable to believe it wasnt a parody

Everything you suggested as an improvement were in the original books this film was (loosely) based on. PBS Kids did an entire animated series with John Ritter voicing Clifford that was extremely popular, yet remained faithful to the source material. They could have easily modernized the story further while leaving it faithful to its source. I agree with you about kids movies should not just be badly made simply because the target audience is kids.

Kids are way smarter than people realize, why do movies like this exist?

i was talking about this movie with a coworker and wondering what the stakes would possibly be, and i never would've expected "evil genetics company wants to steal a magical puppy from a mildly bullied girl" was what we would get

Everytime you say, "AM I WRONG?" I get flashbacks to the video with them arguing over Wizard of Oz- "YOU'RE GONNA LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME I'M WRONG? SHE CAME DOWN IN A BUBBLE DUDE"

I watched part of this movie with my 4 year old the other day. Let me tell you the sobbing and hysterics that happened after that opening scene with Clifford’s mom was something I was not prepared for. I’m glad we watched it at home and not in the theaters because it was apparently traumatic for my little guy. That’s about as far as we made it into the movie so after watching this I’m glad we didn’t finish it.

No. No. No. The idea that no one else every loved their dog enough has always been a part of Clifford. It's always that Emily Elizabeth loved him so much that he grew huge.

Why didn't they just make it an amazing rendition of the cartoon? I watched it with my nephews and nieces and loved it! Clifford!!! It's story time!!! Cleo: Would I steer you wrong? T-Bone: Well, there was that one time... The loving honest morality that wasn't too whack you over the head. Heck, a friend of mine is actually named Emily Elizabeth and she gets mad I only call her that!

Clifford in the books is adorable. In the cartoon, he's adorable. I don't know what that red monstracity is, but it's not a dog.

Logistical question: how does Clifford fit through human sized doors in this movie????

I feel compelled to mention something I learned a thing about animating and filming the color RED from watching the Transformers special features (of all things). Apparently, the reason why Optimus Prime had so much blue was because red tends to look really whack unless there is a lot of work in post to make it look right. Take "The Rum Diaries" where the motif is a bright red object, but it's like intentionally supernaturally red for artistic emphasis, it looks great. But doing a realistic red doesn't work well, there aren't many red main characters outside of 2d animation for a reason. I cant help but think that's exactly what happened here. Clifford has no color depth or natural variation in coat shades all dogs have. And on top of that, red is highly impacted by surrounding light (red can look near BLACK in some lighting), and yet we don't see any of that here. Taking on a red protagonist was really ballsy and I don't think they did basic due diligence on researching how to do it. Michael Bay KNEW it would be hard, and that's why Optimus is mostly blue, Ratchet (who should be all white and red) is neon yellow. Ironhide who is 100% red is 100% black in the film. Just thought I'd share that.

i wish that went with the original story plot and like…yeah okay it would end up being a “wow i love living in new york with my red puppy :) OH NO HE’S BIG :( we gotta move and be the new kids in town” like it could’ve just been the ‘town doesn’t like them cuz big dog’ but like Clifford after…idfk he saves someone or helps save the town??? le sigh, but if kids enjoy this film then it’s good enough i guess (but i agree, kids deserve better movies like this idk, this plot feels like a cheap out)

She's different because her name is Food Stamps obviously

Best take from Amanda: "Kids are mean, but they could of been meaner"

The funny thing about Amanda's pitch for a better movie around 9:45 is that that's EXACTLY what the plot of the original cartoon shows were (Clifford's Puppy Days and Clifford the Big Red Dog). Also another unnecessary change they made from the source material is that Clifford started off as a smaller than normal puppy and vets told Emily Elizabeth and co. that he'd never grow. Hence the whole "he grew thanks to the power of love" aspect (wasn't magic though, just regular "love can do anything" shenanigans. Ramble over, I get passionate over my childhood😅

Why didn't the movie end with them on Birdwell Island? Nearly all of the books take place on an island, not the city.

what do you mean a genetics company in NEW YORK is specifically trying to make bigger pets? Who in New York is looking for BIGGER pets??

“Got a job as an artist” I’m sorry that’s the least believable part of this movie about a giant bright red puppy that gets abducted by evil scientists

Is it really a kid's movie? I asked one of my managers if his daughter knew what Clifford was and he shook his head; I feel like the targetted demographic was millennials and older gen z.

I don’t think kids movies are made for kids. They’re a bare minimum effort, with a franchise name attached that will bring in their parents. No consideration given to what kids today want.

I kinda thought the whole thing at the beginning of the books was they had to move out of new York because he got too big for the apartment and they needed to get a big house with space?

I’m so upset because I learned how to read with Clifford the Big Red Dog. It should have been taken seriously because of how much of a nostalgic topic it is for almost all generations in some way. It could have been such a sophisticated and moving kids movie at bare minimum, it could have even been a great *family* movie, but then they go and do-this.

A Clifford movie with a Cujo vibe? Sign me in

What bothers me the most is when he’s small he doesn’t look like an actual golden retriever puppy, he’s TOO small.

least realistic thing about this movie is that the cops didnt shoot clifford.

I would have loved if Clifford grew big and was able to speak. That would have made for a fun movie, but this…? No

Amanda: "I love you" Hermes: Tries to bite Amanda's face

as a childhood clifford stan... my biggest complaint is that they lived on a bone shaped island in the original cartoon. Smh

It’s New York. There’s not a lot of big dogs in New York- very little places allow them and even then the space for them is minimal. So that’s not too weird that those are the only dogs they encounter other than Clif

So, they DISRESPECTED the legacy that Clifford The Big Red Dog had created for millions of children around the world just to tell some cheap jokes? My god, Clifford deserved better. I remember watching CTBRD as a child and loving the mini adventures that these canines went on. It wasn't big, nor was it magical. They were treated as normal dogs with normal personalities. Chloe, the poodle that was always sassy and had a good sense of humor, I still remember her little catchphrase when she wants to go on an adventure "have I ever steered you wrong?", it was what made Clifford so special. Clifford was the friendliest despite his big size. If I ever do a rendition of CTBRD, I would want to respect the creator of the book series and tell it like how he presented it. He made so many childhoods that you don't even know how many kids loved tuning into the show just to watch the laidback series. It's a break from the magical worlds that plague children's media these days. Also, the comment that he looked like a golden retriever, he's supposed to be a Labrador, and his cartoon self indicates that, with the floppy ears and the distinct lab tail. There was nothing magical about Clifford, he was just a runt of the litter that grew to be enormous. I do think this could've respected the lore of CTBRD, I'm piggybacking off of Bunmi Akinwande Bunmi Akinwande {Their comment} Honestly, the "Clifford is growing too big so we have to work around him" is exactly what I wished the movie would have been. We've seen Clifford as a puppy, and as a fully grown dog. However, the in-between part where the Howard family starts to realize Clifford is too big for their house, prompting the move to Birdwell Island would have been a great movie. The story would have focused on the relations between the family members (including Emily Elizabeth's dad!) and the sacrifices they're willing to make for the dog they've grown to love. We could have shown the parents house hunting (initially due to perhaps neighbor complaints and eventually due to space), while EE struggles with the exponentially increasing workload of her dog. By the time we see Clifford in the books and cartoons, the Howards have figured out things like bathing, feeding, walking, etc. The movie would have been great to show those growing pains, while still giving the message that it's okay to be different. I love this comment since it goes off the original lore of the CTBRD franchise, and gives a new message of sometimes you have you change your life in order to suite someone else's who you love. And piggybacking off of you too, it would've been interesting to see a realistic portrayal of dog ownership, it's not easy and you need to be patient with a being that doesn't understand you and won't understand you, also doing research would've helped since Labs are a 'meet you in the middle' type dogs, perfect dog to explain the 'meet you in the middle concept'. Mixing these two points together, this would've been a masterpiece of a movie, first showing how hard it is to take care of a dog when you're still in school, teaching responsibility, and teaching sacrifice with how labs typically are, they're not smart, but they're not dumb either. So, this movie could've been great if the writers understood the source material and understood dogs in general.

That whole "live action cartoons" trend needs to die. Please oh please. There's a reason why they made it as cartoons the first time. Maybe we should just respect and acknowledge animation as the legit art form/media that it is 🙄

Your crazed giggles make this so much better

Fun fact: Clifford is canonically an energy vampire, according to the show's creators.

The part that’s really weird is in the original books they DO move from the city to the country once he gets big. I loved these books and the cartoon so much I wish it would have done it justice :(

Pretty sure somewhere between Lilo and Stitch and Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch has a glitch is closer to what you wanted this movie to be /what this movie should have been. Underdog girl has weird pet that she loves but is also ruining her life and causing harm/inconvenience to her and her family (optional side plot where big bad guys/government are trying to take the pet away). Lilo & Stitch is also an answer to your question of “good ‘kids’ movie”

They're not even on Bridwell Island. 😬 They could've created that place but resorted to an easy NYC backdrop.

Jack Whitehall's father Mike Whitehall is a famous theatrical/film agent who repped stars like Judy Dench and Colin Firth

I always got the impression that they were meant to live in a new england type setting when Clifford got too big for the city, that would have tied in the new kid bullying and made more sense for the backdrop too. Good points all around tho, thank you!

There's a series of creepypastas called "Dogscape" that's basically about the Foundation finding a dog like Clifford and the results nearly wipe out all life on earth by covering it in... well, Dog. They're surprisingly good and would have made a better movie. Not a good kid's movie though.

people love talking about how good movies were when they were a kid, how their generation had such good kids tv and stuff, but then whenever they see modern kids films being bad they just write it off as "well, it IS a kids movie". if you enjoyed the shows and movies you saw as a kid, then the current generation of children ALSO deserve that experience. dont let kids grow up to be nostalgic for fucked up cgi clifford

We are the same age so you saying everyone asks if you are pregnant gave me the full shivers

I currently have a Great Dane puppy, and oh boy, big puppies are fucking (adorable) pains in the ass. Clifford needs to be a small puppy for balance to be retained.

The vet visit is so relatable: Client comes in with a non-medical issue re: their pet, you say you can't do anything, they leave and the tech dispenses some juicy, unrelated gossip.

Clifford looks like Pennywises canine form

I was just watching a review of My Neighbor Totoro and it's a success in large part because it's refreshing, calming, happy, and has a plot but not much good-bad confrontation, but how it captures children really well. It's one of the most popular children's films internationally! They could've taken from this for Clifford, and your idea of Emily having a loving family and awesome friends/school, but the family learning to change or sacrifice because they love Clifford is a great message that could've been even a refreshing, calming, happy, captures children well movie.

Good children's movies: The Land Before Time (1st one), Sampson & Sally, We're Back, Coraline, Scamper the Penguin, Milo and Otis, Homeward Bound

"I believe kids deserve good movies." I mean that's all well and good but there are soooooo many movies that are beloved by Millenials and became classics and are considered good and even great movies nowadays simply by virtue of people who are adults noawadays watched them when they were kids and the adults who watched them at the time either hated them or were indifferent to them. Sure there were movies for kids that adults loved too just like there are movies for kids that come out now that adults love, but there let's not pretend that there aren't tons of movies that each generation love as kids and then they grow up and nostalgia clouds their ability to judge their merits as a film. I think there definitely is something to be said that something is created specifically for kids and that we reach a certain age where that content just isnt' appealing to us. When that content involves characters that we grew up with it's normal for us to not like that because it makes us come face to face with growing older and actually becoming adults. Whereas content that can still be enjoyed as an adult allows us to ignore that feeling. It's why Pixar and Disney movies don't have that uneasy feeling watching alone as an adult like other stuff that makes you feel like you should have a kid with you cause you can feel that this content isn't for you. I'm not sure if that is what is happening here as I haven't seen this movie I'm just saying what I've noticed and have experienced myself as far as kid's content goes.

Oh my god why couldn’t they cgi an actual puppy face? Those “puppies” just look like shrunken full grown dogs

The Cartoons were so good, because it actually addressed the growth. Like they did live in an apartment in NY, but Clifford grew to big so they had to move to Birdwell Island so they would have room to keep Clifford. + in the cartoons the dogs talked so like where is that aspect?

Made my daughter cry in the first 5 minutes when he almost got hit by a car 😡😤

"No one's been near me. I don't know what the deal is" 😂😂😂😂

Oh cool so the main characters barely know each other....I'm so invested😐 They should really hire Amanda tho, her idea were amazing

Clifford looks like a golden retriever that rolled around in ketchup chip dust

Clifford the Big Red Dog brings up really buried deep memories. Anyone remember the animated movie where he runs off to the circus, 2004. That was actually good for kids.

Is no one gonna talk about how, in the books, Clifford takes place on an island, not New York!

First good kids movies coming to mind are Coraline (and other Laika stuff like Boxtrolls, Paranorman, Kubo), some Pixar stuff (Tangled, Brave, Inside Out)… uh… wow it’s been a while since I watched kids movies that aren’t animated.

Up Frozen Toy Story Shrek The Incredibles Monsters Inc. The Lion King The list goes on. There is 0 excuse for a movie to be bad just because it's "meant for kids."

A gaint puppy would genuinely terrifying. Like you said they bit everything and the poo and pee like crazy lol. Just imagine cleaning up poo from a dog Clifford's size lol. Anything and everything would be a toy lol.

Kinda reminded me of the pro wrestler Andre the Giant. He was over 7ft tall and 500+ pounds because he just simply wouldn’t stop growing. That would’ve been way better than just magic

Jacks dad is very famous and so was his mom... i would guess that was why he keeps on getting role

New York has very tenant friendly eviction laws. It could take years to evict someone if they have their papers in order.

hold on… GIRL WHAT ABOUT CHRIS PRATT AND A PRODUCER??? someone pls tell me what she’s talking about.

I have no knowledge of the Clifford universe, nor have I watched the whole movie, but making the antagonist “evil genetics GMO company” really pissed me off. I am a biochemist, and in the scientific field it is recognised that GMOs can save millions of tons of food worldwide from insect damage etc. So to teach the children that GMOs are bad and to show graphic imagery of tortured animals (which is NOT what GMO research is about) is very upsetting.

"Kids are mean but I feel like they could have been meaner" New favorite quote.

Why didnt they base it off the actual show? Focus on Clifford having an adventure with his dog friends and talking to them!

As a weird kid (code for "most likely autistic), i LOVED intelligent movies that talked about technology. I loved to know how it worked and how the world just... worked. So my beef with this movie is that they put scientic who wanted to grow animals, scientifically, but then that dog grew magically, so ?? Is his dna affected ? Is his dna different than a regular golden retriever ? What in his dna made him red and why didn't it affect anyone else ? Would his "magic" work ok cows too ? Like. Could the badguys' plan actually work ? Cause i expect the bioengeneering expert to be smarter than me but i feel that I, a neophyte, can poke hole in them. Also why doesnt the magic man also grows cows to end world hunger ?

I started working at a movie theater recently as an usher. One of the things we do is towards of the end of a movie thats playing, we put the trash can in the theater for guests to throw away their stuff and also to make it easier for us when we clean. I go to put a trash can in a theater with clifford in it, opened the door, and legitimately thought for a second that during the movie it had gun shots and my brain was like “why tf is there guns in Clifford?!” It was not gun shots, it was a lab explosion but now my question is “why tf is there a lab explosion in clifford??”

Random thought....how does Clifford pass through a doorframe???

Can we talk about the most recent Grinch remake?! They made Cindy Lou way too much of a main character, the grinch wasn't even mean, and he had perfect teeth despite his theme song. I was disgusted.

If anything, kids content should have a heavier focus on moral/philosophical themes and building critical thinking skills. Considering they’re… y’know. Still developing those things.