Clifford the Big Red Dog | 2021 | PG | – 1.3.1

Why is “Clifford the Big Red Dog” rated PG? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “impolite humor, thematic elements and mild action.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes some pre-teen flirting, a few scenes of peril toward a dog and a child, a man falling off a roof but he is saved, several chase scenes, accidents caused by a giant-sized dog and slapstick falls, bullying among pre-teens, and some mild language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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The love of a young girl causes a small orphaned red puppy to grow into a giant-sized but ever-so-lovable dog that brings a community together in their efforts to keep him from being taken away by a ruthless scientist and used for experiments. Also with Darby Camp, Jack Whitehall, Izaac Wang, John Cleese, Sienna Guillory, Tony Hale, David Alan Grier, Horatio Sanz, Paul Rodriguez, Russell Peters, Keith Ewell and Bear Allen-Blaine. Directed by Walt Becker. [Running Time: 1:37]

Clifford the Big Red Dog SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man implies to a pre-teen girl that his pre-teen son likes her and the boy becomes upset with him. A man asks a pre-teen boy if he has a sister and the boy’s dog growls at him.
► A man squirts hand sanitizer on his hand and seems to touch the front of his pants and a woman in an office sees him and seems alarmed. A man’s pants are low in the back and we see part of his buttock cleavage; a giant-sized dog sniffs him when he passes by.

Clifford the Big Red Dog VIOLENCE/GORE 3

 – A man dangles from a satellite dish on the roof of a building, the dish breaks free and he falls several stories to the ground but is snatched up by a giant-sized dog before he makes impact and he is unharmed. A member of a security detail twists a man’s arm and he falls to his knees. A man shoots a taser at another man and it hits his prosthetic hand (we see a scorch mark but he is otherwise unharmed), a man punches a security person in the face and knocks him down, and a woman throws a can at a security person and it knocks him down (we do not see injuries). Many animals are shown running through a series of security people and throwing them in the air and knocking them out (no injuries are seen).
► A man kicks a wall outside and office in frustration and knocks a letter off the wall inside the office (it breaks on the floor). A man enters an office and tells a woman that he has an interview and she turns him away because he is very late. A pre-teen girl spills a large bag of cans on the floor in a classroom and other children laugh and post a video of the incident on the internet. A giant-sized dog gets out of the back of a truck and runs into a school where people are alarmed by his size and presence. A pre-teen girl accidentally squirts ketchup on another girl’s blouse and the other girl confronts her while other children record her and laugh. A pre-teen girl drives a truck and nearly runs over a few people, and a giant-sized dog in the back of the truck is thrown back and forth. A giant-sized dog runs away from people that want to take him to a laboratory in a few scenes; a security detail fights with a few other men in a restaurant and food is thrown back and forth, two men fight with a spoon and a spatula, a man is hit in the face with a string of sausages and another man is sprayed in the face with chocolate sauce. Several people cut a hole in a fence and sneak into a secure area where two of them are grabbed by security. Smoke in a laboratory sets off alarms and opens containment cages that held genetically modified animals and the animals move through the building startling people; a woman pours condensed milk on the floor to entice a “mean sheep” away from other people.
► A pre-teen girl rides on the back of a giant-sized dog through streets causing traffic to swerve, they are chased by police officers and other security in cars until they get to a park where they are surrounded and the police order the girl to step away from the dog so they can take him away; the dog barks at the officers and one says, “He’s violent.” A man tries to keep a dog from making noise with his tail and is flung back and forth slamming into walls. A giant-sized dog chases a man running inside a clear inflated ball, the dog throws the ball into the air and kicks it into a tree; eventually the dog pops the ball and the man crawls out and runs away (he seems unharmed). A genetically modified sheep is called “mean,” it slams against a containment wall and it snarls and bares its teeth scaring a man that is looking at it.
► Two men argue in a few scenes. A man talks about a woman and says that he is going to cut her in half (he is a self-proclaimed magician). A man talks about having lost a girl twice while she was in his care. A girl makes fun of another girl and mocks her for not being wealthy, but getting into a private school for free. A girl carries a large bag filled with cans for a recycling drive and other children tease her saying that nobody else did the work; they just brought in checks from their parents. A man talks about breaking up with his girlfriend and that he now lives in a truck. A man screams when he sees a giant-sized dog and when he tells him to sit, the dog breaks a table. A man is upset and says that he always messes stuff up for his sister after he finds an eviction notice on her apartment door. We hear that a man’s mother died when he was young and his father went to pieces so his older sister sacrificed everything to raise him. A man says, “I hate children.” A man and a pre-teen girl go to a hospital to find a man and when they arrive, they are told that the man died. A woman is upset when she gets a call saying that her pre-teen daughter is not in school.
► An adult dog and several puppies are seen in an abandoned warehouse as animal control officers enter, take the dog away and put the puppies in a crate; one puppy is left behind and tries to get out as the door closes. A puppy runs toward a food cart where a man has dropped a hot dog, the man shoos the animal away and the puppy runs into a busy street dodging cars as they honk and swerve; the puppy runs onto a sidewalk where it is nearly struck by a bicycle. A giant-size dog is taken away on a boat and he howls and cries as he moves away from a pre-teen girl on the dock.
► A pre-teen girl talks to a puppy and tells him that they need to be big and strong so the world won’t hurt them; the next morning the girl wakes up to the puppy having grown to a giant size. A pre-teen girl is startled when she opens her backpack and finds a puppy inside; she takes the dog out and it scampers around her room, and it chews on her retainer and a slipper. A man makes a turkey sandwich and a puppy climbs onto the counter and takes the meat off the bread without the man seeing, but gets caught the second time and the man yells at a pre-teen girl. A giant-sized dog plays and hops around a pre-teen girl’s room; he breaks her bed when he sits on it and tears a pillow spraying feathers around the room when he plays tug of war with it. A giant-sized dog picks up a pre-teen boy by the back of his shirt and places him in the back of a truck.
► A man is shown with a prosthetic hand and we are told that he cut his hand off with a meat slicer. A monkey makes a raspberry sound with its tongue as a young girl enters an animal tent. A man recoils when a snake wrapped around a lamp hisses at him. A man sprays whipped cream in his mouth and gags spitting some out on his shirt.
► A giant-sized dog flatulates and a boy in the back of a truck with him panics and holds his nose as he gets out of the truck. A giant-sized dog licks a small dog and it ends up in his mouth; he spits it out and it is covered with slime but unharmed. A giant-sized dog sneezes and sprays mucus on a pre-teen girl (she wipes it off). A giant-sized dog drools on a couple of people (we see slime). A giant-sized dog licks a few people and we see saliva. A small dog is held up to a giant-sized dog’s tail and it sniffs the dog. A giant-sized dog drinks from a toilet. A man says that he smells dog and another man says that the smell is from him and that he doesn’t believe in deodorants. A giant-sized dog urinates against a tree and some urine splashes on a man’s and a young girl’s shirt. A man jokes about engineering “cows that poop chocolate.” A vet examines a giant-sized dog and we see his very large mouth and teeth, and the dog sits on a scale and short circuits it; the doctor asks a man to take the dog’s temperature rectally and the man refuses. A sign reads, “Peanut free zone.” After a hair-raising ride in a truck a pre-teen boy says, “I can’t’ get my [mild anatomical term deleted] cheeks unclenched.” A man talks about “peeing in a bucket.”

Clifford the Big Red Dog LANGUAGE 1

 – 1 mild scatological term, 2 mild anatomical terms, 1 mild obscenity, name-calling (absent-minded, creepy, ridiculous, food stamp, wicked sister, litter of terrible, dumb, you’re an accident, nobody, freak, cold, smart-aleck, Asian Oliver Twist, debacle, little girl powers, mean, nasty, bonkers, dangerous, crazy, uncool, the Emily, psycho super, weird old man), exclamations (get lit, what the…, oh my gosh, oh perfect, hey guys, dang, oh snap, oh my, my goodness, heck, literally, ouch, oh for the love of Mike), 6 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, Holy sheep, Jesus, oh Lord, Holy cow). | profanity glossary |

Clifford the Big Red Dog SUBSTANCE USE

 – None.

Clifford the Big Red Dog DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Love, magic, wonder, responsibility, gene modification, feeding the world, being unique, changing the world, bullying, social media, being different, breaking rules, sacrifice, miracles.

Clifford the Big Red Dog MESSAGE

 – Working together and standing up for what is right can make good things happen. Being different doesn’t make you bad.