Clifford is a dreadful film. The first real problem is taking an almost middle aged man and passing him off as a ten year old. Seriously? Get this, we (the audience) see a 40 year old but the other movie characters see a ten year old. Yeh. Then they angle the camera to make him look a foot shorter than all of the "real" grownups around him. The next major problem is the other characters in the movie. Major annoying over-actors, always yelling everything they say in such a strained, exaggerated, draining way, especially Clifford's dad Richard Kind, Clifford's uncle Charles Grodin, and other characters in the movie. Clifford himself also took part in the exaggerated yelling along with other horrible qualities he had. Richard Kind can't handle his son's behavior anymore and begs his brother Grodin to take him, then when Grodin says yes, Richard shows the utmost relief. It doesn't take too long though for Grodin to feel the same way Richard did.
Then there's a big problem with Clifford himself (played by Martin Short). Even if he wasn't playing a boy, he is a creepy freak. He (as Roger Ebert put it) fawns at people like a horny spaniel. Especially Charles Grodin's (Clifford's uncle's) wife. He sings in a loud, embarrassing way in public. Several times (such as screeching "San Francisco, open your Golden gate" at the top of his lungs then yelling in a high pitched feminine voice "ahhhhhhh" while running through the train station with his arms out. Very painful experience watching that). Also, Clifford is maliciously evil and vindictive. He literally shuts off a commercial airplane's engines causing it to quickly drop 10,000 feet nearly crashing (who finds that amusing?). He plots an elaborate scheme to frame Grodin for planting a bomb. He freaks out mischievously several times such as yelling "I want a whole gang of chocolate!" after Grodin says he can't take him to Dinosaur world. He had a freaked obsession with wanting to go to Dinosaur world, which is actually the reason he shut off the plane's engines. You would think him doing that would cause him more than just being thrown off the plane, he should've been locked up, he seriously endanged a couple hundred people's lives.
And then there's the way Clifford talks, with the looks on his face, it made me cringe (and that's bad enough without him saying things like "my no-no place" and many other embarrassing things) Then, if that's not all enough, there are some awful jokes thrown in, such as a couple of transvestites showing up right after a character says "I can spot a phony a mile away". Terrible, terrible movie.
There was only one moment of the film that wasn't horrible, only one semi amusing moment. Clifford kept saying all throughout the film " bestest looking this" or "bestest looking that" about something or someone. When Clifford was hanging from a ledge during a roller coaster accident, and was asking Grodin to save him, Grodin says "I'm trying to figure what horrors you'll release into the world if I do save you. What if you got your hands on plutonium? (Imitating Clifford) look at me! I made the bestest looking nuclear bomb in the whole world!" That was the one funny moment in a film of every, and I mean every other moment being horrid. Even with that one funny bit, I still only gave this film one star. Without it, I would've given it a zero.
Then there's a big problem with Clifford himself (played by Martin Short). Even if he wasn't playing a boy, he is a creepy freak. He (as Roger Ebert put it) fawns at people like a horny spaniel. Especially Charles Grodin's (Clifford's uncle's) wife. He sings in a loud, embarrassing way in public. Several times (such as screeching "San Francisco, open your Golden gate" at the top of his lungs then yelling in a high pitched feminine voice "ahhhhhhh" while running through the train station with his arms out. Very painful experience watching that). Also, Clifford is maliciously evil and vindictive. He literally shuts off a commercial airplane's engines causing it to quickly drop 10,000 feet nearly crashing (who finds that amusing?). He plots an elaborate scheme to frame Grodin for planting a bomb. He freaks out mischievously several times such as yelling "I want a whole gang of chocolate!" after Grodin says he can't take him to Dinosaur world. He had a freaked obsession with wanting to go to Dinosaur world, which is actually the reason he shut off the plane's engines. You would think him doing that would cause him more than just being thrown off the plane, he should've been locked up, he seriously endanged a couple hundred people's lives.
And then there's the way Clifford talks, with the looks on his face, it made me cringe (and that's bad enough without him saying things like "my no-no place" and many other embarrassing things) Then, if that's not all enough, there are some awful jokes thrown in, such as a couple of transvestites showing up right after a character says "I can spot a phony a mile away". Terrible, terrible movie.
There was only one moment of the film that wasn't horrible, only one semi amusing moment. Clifford kept saying all throughout the film " bestest looking this" or "bestest looking that" about something or someone. When Clifford was hanging from a ledge during a roller coaster accident, and was asking Grodin to save him, Grodin says "I'm trying to figure what horrors you'll release into the world if I do save you. What if you got your hands on plutonium? (Imitating Clifford) look at me! I made the bestest looking nuclear bomb in the whole world!" That was the one funny moment in a film of every, and I mean every other moment being horrid. Even with that one funny bit, I still only gave this film one star. Without it, I would've given it a zero.