"BEETHOVEN’S BIG BREAK"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars) STARRING THE VOICES OF Jonathan Silverman as EDDIE Moises Arias as BILLY Jennifer Finnigan as LISA Rhea Perlman as PATRICIA Eddie Griffin as STANLEY Stephen Tobolowsky as SAL Joey Fatone as BONES Rated PG Studio: Universal Directed by: Mike Elliott Back to DVD Review Home |  |
Prior to the release of the movie-within-a-movie twist that is “Beethoven’s Big Break,” there were five “Beethoven” movies that spanned the years 1992 to 2003. By the time the last one came out, the movies were three films deep into the direct to video market.
This is not a bad place to be. Sure, no one is walking away with a $20 million paycheck, but a successful direct-to-video series is always good as a cash cow.
Consider things shaken up this time. This is no longer a story about a St. Bernard and the family struggling to live with him. Well, I suppose it still is, only this has a new twist to it. This time, Beethoven is a movie star.
Jonathan Silverman plays Eddie, an animal wrangler in Hollywood. His wife has died, and he’s left taking care of his son Billy (Moises Arias). When the cute lap dog in Eddie’s latest film is kidnapped, the studio looks for a new starring pooch. The director (Eddie Griffin) casts a stray St. Bernard found by Billy, and now Eddie not only has to train the untrainable dog, but he must manage dealing with him as a new family member.
I can’t say that I disagree with the idea of rebooting this franchise now that it’s on DVD. We’ve gone from Charles Grodin in the theatrical releases to Judge Reinhold and eventually Dave Thomas as Beethoven’s nemesis in the video releases. Jonathan Silverman may not be Charles Grodin, but he offers a different take on the character than we’ve seen five times before.
There’s also an added cuteness to this film in that the movie-within-a-movie is the original “Beethoven.” While I doubt that this was the true inspiration for the 1992 family classic, it is fun to watch how these scenes develop off and on the set, if you remember them from the original film.
Yeah, the story is really shaky, and the characters are something you’ve probably seen in a dozen other movies. However, the entire “Beethoven” film series was meant strictly for family viewing. It’s not to be analyzed or dissected.
This film works for family movie night with the kids. “Beethoven’s Big Break” offers plenty of slapstick moments and a fair share of burps and farts, which make the movie a sure-fire hit for young kids.
The DVD comes with a couple deleted scenes and an overly long blooper reel. There’s also a spotlight on the dog trainers (AKA the real stars of the film) and a look at Moises Arias, whom you might recognize as Rico from “Hannah Montana,” and how he steals the show behind the scenes almost as much as the dogs do.
