Rover Dangerfield

Rover Dangerfield

Rover Dangerfield

Rover Dangerfield

Rover Dangerfield is loosely based on the late Rodney Dangerfield and tells the story of a dog named after the title of the film who ends up at a farm where he befriends a young boy and a collie named Daisy. But will Rover choose his lavish life in Las Vegas with his old owner or his life at the farm. Overall this was one of those films that I grew up with as a kid and never seen it ever again. If you were a fan of Rodney Dangerfield than check it out.

This is a very delightful kids movie. It's cute, and the songs are fun and entertaining. This was always a favorite of my kids and if I could find it on DVD I would be buying it for my grandkids. If you can watch Spongebob Square Pants as a parent with your kids, this movie is 10x's more pleasurable. Not only that, it creates memories. The storyline is about the pet of a Las Vegas showgirl who is used to the "good life", must now make it on his own as a street dog. He has attitude at first, but as time goes on he changes his ways. It has many little life lessons to be learned along the way,if you pay attention to whats going on. The mannerisms and characteristics of Rodney Dangerfield are cleverly captured in the animated main character "Rover". Rodney Dangerfield himself provides the voice for this lovable mutt. The most favorite song and most memorable one was "I'll never do it on a Christmas Tree" - "it" being peeing on the tree. My kids thought it was very funny and played it over and over again until they learned it and sang it around the house. I've been searching for this wonderful movie on DVD for a long time and hope to see it become available sometime soon.

Rodney Dangerfield, Harold Ramis & Warner Bros animation that belies the classic Bugs Bunny years creates a rare cartoon that may be only for fans of this classic styled cartoons and Dangerfield but it delivers. The only drawback is that this was supposed to be an adult film (R-Rating) but was limited by WB studios to stay within the G-Rating and doesn't get the chance to go all-in for the type of adult-themed Dangerfield humor. But even with these limitations you get the song "I'll Never Do it (urinate) on a Christmas Tree" that highlights the musical numbers. A rare gem that provides viewers with one of the last WB cartoons that is reminiscent of the golden age (pre-digital graphics) that also highlights Rodney's routines that fit perfectly in a stray dog who struggles to find...RESPECT for himself. Look for Aretha's song playing in the background in the first 20 minutes, while also playing classic Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc) in the background earlier on to provide a nod to the masters. Even Seth MacFarlane gave a nod to this film on Family Guy (S16, E15) where we see Rover Dangerfield in one of the dog cages. At least Seth was watching! A wonderful effort from a lost age of cartoons.

I've always had kind of a perverse curiosity about this animated movie starring Roger Dangerfield as an animated dog who, having lived in Las Vegas his whole life, has to learn to exist on a farm. It just seemed like such a moronic idea. Well, it just popped up on Netflix Instant, having never been released on DVD, and I decided that, no matter how awful it was, it's only 73 minutes long. Well, yeah, self-fulfilling prophecy and all that. It's terrible. I mean, the idea of a G rated Rodney Dangerfield should have stopped me in my tracks (okay, Ladybugs wasn't too bad, I guess). What's really weird is that Dangerfield himself was the creative force behind this whole project (he co-wrote the script with Harold Ramis). You'd think he would figure that no child would really want to see a cartoon starring himself. And Dangerfield fans aren't likely to enjoy him in such a toothless incarnation. About as dirty as it gets is when he sings a song about not "doing it" on a Christmas tree. Yes, there's a whole song where he promises his new girlfriend that he would never take a leak on a Christmas tree. Even worse, that's the only song that's even close to memorable, and it is only memorable because of its subject matter. At least Dangerfield isn't nearly as bad a singer as you might imagine, which allows the songs to go by more or less unnoticed. What's really weird is that Dangerfield didn't attempt in the slightest to get some blue jokes past the censors (it was a more innocent time than a decade later, when Shrek tickled us all pink with dick jokes), but the plot often gets absurdly dark. At least two plot points of the film have Rover facing possible execution, once by his original owner's gangster boyfriend (who himself apparently gets whacked in the end) and once by his new farmer master, who catches him with a dead turkey (which wolves killed). Yes, the turkey was just talking in the previous scene (voiced by Simpsons/Futurama regular Tress MacNeille, who voices a few other characters along the way, too), and then it has its neck broken. Rover is slapping its dangling head about, trying to revive it, when the farmer discovers him. Then he holds its head up and tries to do an impression of a turkey. I'm sure no children were traumatized by that. As bad as it is, it's a curio that I can check off my "I can't believe they made this movie" list.

I am a big fan of animated movies and of animated shows, so I was interested in seeing Rover Dangerfield despite hearing from most people it was bad or mediocre. And mostly, while it is nothing great, I liked it. The film is too short I feel, I personally think the film could have done with an extra 5-8 minutes. The story does have its charms, and the idea really intrigued me, but some scenes are static and move along a little too slowly. Also there are some inconsistencies such as the business with Rocky and Connie about the birthday party that could have been perhaps avoided had the film been longer. The voice acting is mostly good, but I too did not like the farm boy who was annoying and Ned Luke's delivery ranged from just decent to horrid. And some of the characters could have done with more personality, Rover Dangerfield(who had plenty of it), Daisy, Connie and Rocky excepted. Of the voice acting, Rodney Dangerfield definitely steals the show, his voice is very distinctive and the delivery is great, often classic. Of the support cast, Susan Boyd is really quite lovely, likewise with Shawn Southwick, but Sal Landi as Rocky shows the most consistency. The animation mostly is good, with colours that don't look too flat and some of the background art is more than decent. And most of the characters are not too bad to look at either. The music and songs are not timeless classics, nor are they painful. I for one found them memorable and quite nice, especially Never Do it on a Christmas Tree. A vast majority of the time, the script works as well, Dangerfield's asides are funny, witty and perhaps even raunchy at times, even if some of the support characters could have had more to say. In conclusion, not great, not crud. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This quality children's animated flick shows how versatile Dangerfield can be. Ask most stand-up comedians known for being on the dirty side to write a G-rated screenplay and they wouldn't at all know how to go about it. But Dangerfield does, in this good (but not great) comic and somewhat chessy and predictable, but that's par for all kid flicks, film. Good songs include "It's a dog's life and I love it" and the amusing "I'll never do it on a Christmas tree". Great looking animation of Dangerfield as a dog, and the best K-9 one-liners

I remember renting this on VHS at a local gas station and had to copy it as much as I loved it. No Lion King just some fun old Americana cartoon.