Clifford the Big Red Dog
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: November 10, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
16
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
76
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 8, 2021
The filmmakers have leapt over franchise concerns to somehow deliver a movie that engages kids and entertainingly puzzles adults. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 9, 2021
Clifford the Big Red Dog brings a warm feeling every time I think of it, and I’m really glad I saw it. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterAngie HanNov 8, 2021
It’s not reinventing the wheel or breaking new ground; it’s unlikely to wow audiences with its bold artistic vision or profound emotional depths. But there’s a place for sturdy and familiar entertainment that delivers exactly what it intends, and Clifford the Big Red Dog is just that. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanNov 8, 2021
Clifford the Big Red Dog becomes a rowdy chase film — as agreeable as Clifford himself, as simultaneously cute and in-your-face, and as genially random in its ability to create chaos. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoNov 10, 2021
Yes, some of it looks cheaply made and a few too many of the jokes will thud for parents and children, but it’s such a big-hearted film in every scene. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesKatie WalshNov 9, 2021
Clifford the Big Red Dog has a decidedly innocent throwback appeal. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Simran HansJan 11, 2022
The film is best when it sticks to children’s caper mode, jostled along by gentle toilet humour, bad-tempered barnyard animals and a scene of two kids driving a van across Manhattan. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesTara BradyDec 10, 2021
It’s loud, it’s silly, it’s over-saturated; the smaller viewers at the family screening I attended were wildly impressed. Adults may be somewhat impressed that the word “bollocks” makes the final cut. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinDec 9, 2021
A nicely maintained amiable tone takes the edge off the inevitable lavatorial humour, while the 14-year-old Camp, of Big Little Lies and The Christmas Chronicles, strikes up an impressively plausible emotional connection with her goofy, lolloping co-star (not Whitehall, the dog). Read full review
60
EmpireBen TravisDec 9, 2021
A sort of kiddie creature-feature with a big red heart, Clifford offers solid family fare with moments of throwback charm. Not quite a 12/10 on the WeRateDogs scale, but still a good boy. Read full review
60
The GuardianLeslie FelperinDec 9, 2021
It’s watchable and even occasionally amusing. Read full review
60
IGNRosie KnightNov 10, 2021
Clifford the Big Red Dog is a sweet if shallow kids offering that sometimes soars higher than expected. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckNov 10, 2021
For older viewers, though, it may be hard to ignore some of the clunkier moments of a script that, in trying to update a story created in 1963, gets in its own way with dialogue that while sometimes funny and sweet, can be awkward and occasionally even off-key. Read full review
50
Washington PostKristen Page-KirbyNov 9, 2021
Sure, maybe Clifford doesn’t take the cinematic art form to a new level. All the same, it’s funny and sweet. This old dog may not have many new tricks, but sometimes being a good boy will do. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerNov 8, 2021
It’s harmless bad, not torture bad. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 8, 2021
Clifford the Big Red Dog is simple, sometimes silly little nothing of a kids’ movie, lightweight and harmless and of no great consequence whatsover. But it’s got sight gags and giant dog slobber jokes, giant dog farts and giant dog weeing-on-trees humor. So the littlest viewers, for whom it is intended, will find a laugh here and there. Read full review
45
CNNBrian LowryNov 10, 2021
As big as he is, you still have to look pretty hard and uncritically to find much magic in "Clifford." Read full review
45
TheWrapYolanda MachadoNov 8, 2021
While Clifford is definitely cute, the script (screenplay and story are credited to five writers) lacks any depth, relying upon Whitehall to carry and deliver the comedy — so much so that Casey feels simultaneously exaggerated and two-dimensional. Read full review
42
The PlaylistJason BaileyNov 8, 2021
There’s not much here for anyone over 10 to focus on, aside from how strange it is that the puppy Clifford looks so much more fake than the giant one. Read full review
40
Screen RantSarah Bea MilnerNov 10, 2021
Clifford will entertain the youngest viewers, and is destined to be the kind of film preschoolers want to watch again and again, but most audiences will be bored by its stale jokes, two-dimensional characters, and lazy writing. Read full review
40
The New York TimesNatalia WinkelmanNov 10, 2021
Genuine sweetness can be found in Emily’s fidelity to her rowdy new best friend. Still, naturalism is hard to fake, and it’s difficult to divorce Clifford from the lines of code that animate him. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleTrace SauveurNov 9, 2021
Watching this vaguely preternatural, shoddily animated interpretation of a beloved character parade around really makes you feel the disconnect between page and screen. Read full review
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