Emily (Darby Camp) has to spend a few days with her Uncle Casey (Jack Whitehall) whilst her mother goes away for work. When they happen across a mysterious man’s (John Cleese) animal relocation tent in the park Emily  begs to adopt a tiny red puppy who she names Clifford. But her love for him makes him grow to giant size and antics ensue. 

Clifford The Big Red Dog is one of those children’s films that adults will suffer whilst their children have a great time. 

I have to admit that I am completely unaware of the ‘beloved’ stories or the fact that there are a whopping eighty books and two television series. The story here is simply about a giant size puppy causing havoc and something to do with unique people getting bullied and they just have to be strong and love to survive. But this adaptation is no Paddington and simply aims to keep young children happy. Which it absolutely does. If your kids love dogs, chaos and are under the age of ten they will love it. 

For the adults you might want to sneak in forty winks because you will have to deal with some decidedly dodgy CGI and a ridiculously bad American accent from Jack Whitehall. It seemed incredibly odd to me that whilst Clifford is a small dog that the CGI was so poor. And perhaps even more odd that Emily’s mother spoke with an English accent and yet her Uncle Casey, played by someone with a quintessential English accent has an American accent. And then does jokes where he tried to speak in an English accent. The story makes little sense either but honestly who cares? Your kids want to see a cute dog for heavens sake! Let them enjoy themselves.