Clifford (film)

At a Catholic school in 2050, a troublesome boy named Roger (Ben Savage) is running away after threatening to blow up the gym due to not being allowed to play on the basketball team – though he was accepted onto the team, his parents have strictly forbidden contact sports. He is stopped by Father Clifford Daniels (Martin Short), an old priest who tries to persuade him to change his ways by telling him a story of his own youth.

As a 10-year-old back in 1990, Clifford is an obnoxious and eccentric boy who never lets go of a toy dinosaur named Steffen, whom he talks to and blames for Clifford's own actions. His dream is to visit Dinosaur World, a theme park in California, but he is never considered especially by his workaholic parents Julian (Richard Kind) and Theodora (Jennifer Savidge). While flying with his parents to Honolulu on a business trip, Clifford intentionally causes the pilot to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles.

Father Clifford takes this time to tell Roger about Julian's estranged brother Martin (Charles Grodin) who is an engineer working for Gerald Ellis (Dabney Coleman). Martin wants to marry his co-worker Sarah Davis (Mary Steenburgen), though Sarah wants to have kids with him.

Because Clifford is now banned from the flight, Julian phones Martin to have Clifford stay with him temporarily. While Clifford sees this as his opportunity to finally visit Dinosaur World, Martin thinks that this is the perfect opportunity to prove to Sarah how well he interacts with children. However, he has not seen Clifford since his baptism and is completely unaware of Clifford's antics.

Upon their reunion, Martin reveals to Clifford that he designed Larry the Scary Rex (a Dinosaur World attraction) and can get into the park free of charge which only strengthens Clifford's obsession to visit. Martin promises to take him there, but is ultimately forced to break his promise the next day as his work requires that he redesign LA's public transit system - one of Martin's biggest dreams - in two days. At a gas station, Clifford attempts to sneak away by posing as someone else's son in a dinosaur costume, but he's caught by Martin. Disappointed, Martin tells Clifford that the Dinosaur World trip is canceled.

Clifford is enraged at Martin and is further upset when he discovers that Martin plans to attend Sarah's parents' 35th anniversary party. As revenge, Clifford embarrasses Martin in front of Sarah's family with several pranks. Martin is arrested after Clifford calls in a fake bomb threat in city hall, which Clifford made out of mixing audios of Martin's scolding of Clifford with his answering machine. After being released on bail, Martin scolds Clifford again claiming that he now has a criminal record and mentions his own experiences of being denied his own visit the theme park Riverview before it was ultimately demolished. He tries getting Clifford to write a confession of the bomb incident, but Clifford misleads Martin in catching a train to San Francisco where Sarah travels on the request of Mr. Ellis who attempts to move in on her, and Martin can't find him before the train departs.

Back at Martin's home, Clifford throws a party in exchange for a trip to Dinosaur World. Martin gradually perceives Clifford as a threat. When he returns home, he traps Clifford by boarding the door and windows to his room. Clifford is released next morning by Sarah, who breaks up with Martin in disgust, taking Clifford with her. As Martin arrives late to Ellis's presentation of Martin's transit system, the Los Angeles city model explodes, costing Martin his job - the last of Clifford's antics.

Having had enough, Martin kidnaps Clifford from Sarah's house and finally takes him to Dinosaur World after closing hours and makes him ride Larry the Scary Rex. After going through it once, Clifford seems to enjoy himself, so Martin increases the ride's speed repeatedly. When set to hyper speed, the ride malfunctions and Clifford's cart crashes, leaving him dangling above the jaws of the malfunctioning robotic dinosaur. Clifford begs Martin to save him, but Martin hesitates and ponders the consequences of letting him live. Ultimately, Martin risks his own life and rescues Clifford. Clifford finally apologizes for his behavior, but Martin won't hear it, telling Clifford he's a just destructive thing that eventually everyone just gets to hate.

In the present, Father Clifford says that this experience made him turn his life around, telling Roger that "if you destroy everyone in the way of your dreams, you will end up alone, with no dreams at all." He sent 287 apology letters to Martin which were returned unopened.

When Roger asks Father Clifford about what happened to Sarah, he reveals that Sarah invited him to her wedding to Martin as the ring boy. Through a gesture from Sarah who is now officially Clifford's aunt, Martin finally forgives Clifford while giving him a kiss on the head.

Moved by the tale, Roger decides to write 287 letters asking for forgiveness. Father Clifford then takes Steffen from his pocket saying "Mission accomplished, old friend."

• Martin Short as Clifford Daniels, a mischievous 10-year-old boy who later becomes a priest in 2050.
• Charles Grodin as Martin Daniels, an engineer and Clifford's uncle who watches Clifford while his parents are in Honolulu.
• Mary Steenburgen as Sarah Davis Daniels, a daycare center worker and Martin's co-worker/fiancée who later becomes Clifford's aunt.
• Dabney Coleman as Gerald Ellis, Martin and Sarah's boss who wears a toupee.
• Richard Kind as Julian Daniels, Clifford's short-tempered workaholic father who is estranged from his brother Martin.
• Jennifer Savidge as Theodora Daniels, Clifford's loving workaholic mother.
• Ben Savage as Roger, a boy from 2050 who Father Clifford recounts his childhood to.
• Don Galloway as Captain
• Tim Lane as Navigator
• Josh Seal and Kevin Mockrin as Kevin
• Timothy Stack as Kevin's Father
• Marianne Muellerleile as Kevin's Mother
• G.D. Spradlin as Parker Davis, the father of Sarah.
• Anne Jeffreys as Annabelle Davis, the mother of Sarah.
• Richard Fancy as Detective
• Al Pugilese as Detective
• Barry Dennen as the voice of Terry the Pterodactyl, an animatronic Pterodactyl on the Larry the Scary Rex ride.
• Stefan as Stefan

The film was critically panned. It currently holds a 13% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 31 reviews (27 negative, 4 positive).[2] Roger Ebert gave the film a half-star of a possible four. He wrote: "The movie is so odd, it's almost worth seeing just because we'll never see anything like it again. I hope."[3] He and his colleague film critic Gene Siskel gave Clifford "Two thumbs down" on their television show with particular criticism towards Martin Short's casting as Clifford, Ebert stated that "Short looks so weird that there's never a moment where you can stop gawking at him long enough for the character to gather up any momentum". Siskel agreed stating that Martin Short "looks like a wizened little dwarf" and referring to his character as "very unhappy".[4]

Despite this broader negative reception, Clifford has since gained a reputation as a cult classic.[5][6]

• 6th worst – Sean P. Means, The Salt Lake Tribune[7]
• Top 10 worst (not ranked) – Betsy Pickle, Knoxville News-Sentinel[8]
• Top 12 worst (Alphabetically ordered, not ranked) – David Elliott, The San Diego Union-Tribune[9]
• Dishonorable mention – Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News[10]

• Clifford at IMDb
• Clifford at the TCM Movie Database
• Clifford at Box Office Mojo
• Clifford at Rotten Tomatoes