Rodney Dangerfield was one of most popular comedians of the 70's and 80's. His stand up act, including his "No Respect" routines, made millions of people laugh and has given good performances in movies like Caddyshack (1980) and Back to School (1986). As the 90's come around however, he began appearing in watered down family films and that's the case with the animated feature, Rover Dangerfield.
Dangerfield came up with the idea with the intention of making a hard R rated animated comedy that's more in line with his stand up act. But Warner Bros reportedly watered the film down into a G rated animated musical for a broader family audience. Probably after animation was completed, the studio was beginning to lack confidence in the film and decided to give the film a very small theatrical release in the August dumping ground of 1991. The box office results were unknown but the film seemed to disappoint critics, Rodney Dangerfield fans, and animation fans alike, though it seems to have an audience after home video and television broadcasts. Is the film underrated, or should it get no respect? Let's find out!
The film centers on Rover Dangerfield, a carefree, wisecracking dog who belong to a friendly Las Vegas showgirl named Connie (Shawn Southwick). After he discovers that Connie's boyfriend is a crook, he gets thrown into the Hoover Dam, but he survives, takes shelter on a farm, makes new friends, and wisecracks throughout the entire movie.
Right there we have a problem with the character of Rover. He's a one-dimensional, unfunny, and obnoxious bore. He constantly wisecracks, speaks up lame one-liners, and tells a lot of jokes that would work on stand up comedy, but they just don't work on a movie like this. Consider this scene for example, a group of wolves attacks a turkey while Rover comes to the rescue. He scares the wolves away but the turkey is dead. Rather than feeling sorry, he performs a puppet show with the dead turkey while the man who owns the farm believes Rover killed the turkey and points a shot gun at him. This scene is not funny. It's stupid, unnecessary, and disturbing if they're gonna make a family film.
Speaking of tonal inconsistency, for a movie that Warner Bros watered down a potentially adult animated film for a family audience, they surprisingly failed to do so. Granted there's no swearing and blood but we have the aforementioned dead turkey joke and scantily clad Las Vegas showgirls at the beginning of the film and it's slapped with a G rating instead of a PG somehow. Now, I don't have a problem with family movies with adult content, but if the film's tone and mood is confused, I really have a short fuse.
The musical numbers are really weak. They range from stupid, annoying, and forgettable. Rodney Dangerfield can be a talented singer. He made his own cover on "Twist and Shout" for Back to School. But the songs really just don't work. The worst song in the film is "I'll Never Do It On A Christmas Tree" (obvious sexual innuendo in the song title is obvious). It's annoying, lame, and Rodney's singing talent just really doesn't through.
The only positive thing I can say about the film is the decent animation. I like the colorful Las Vegas setting and the warm landscape when Rover gets to the farm for shelter. There's even some good use of CGI in the film, especially in the opening shot of the film as the "camera" follows the starry Nevada landscape to Las Vegas. But that's all I can say positive about.
Overall, Rover Dangerfield is a one-joke, unfunny, and annoying animated film that would probably turn of Rodney Dangerfield fans as much as casual movie goers and animation fans. This film deserves no respect, and deserves to be forgotten.
RATING 1.5/4
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