Beethoven's Big Break Review & Giveaway

GIVEAWAY SATURDAY

*** and the winner is Judy Brittle, comment #10. Congrats Judy! ***

Back in 1992, I missed the first Beethoven movie. I heard of it, who could miss a movie about such a large messy dog, but was too busy getting my life in order after college to catch a kids' movie. When I heard about that a new Beethoven movie was being released to DVD this holiday season, I thought the timing might be right for my kids. Although they often shy away from "real" movies (as opposed to animated), I was fairly certain that the big lovable slobbery St Bernard would appeal to them.

We held our first screening of Beethoven's Big Break last weekend and we now have many lines memorized because we've seen it four more times. My seven-year old was thrilled to recognize Rico from Hannah Montana (Moises Arias) as one of the main characters. My 4 year old son loved all the disastrous messes Beethoven caused: soaking everyone with water, insisting that the TV station be kept on classical music, pulling Rico/Billy on his skateboard, and big wet sloppy kisses after knocking people down. I have to admit that I enjoyed the movie too. Jonathan Silverman is great as the dad and I laughed harder than the kids when Beethoven farted while sharing his bed.

Beethoven's Big Break is not all messy dog jokes; there is dog-napping, ransom, bad guys, and exciting chases too. Nothing too scary, but enough to keep things fun and interesting. Stephen Tobolowsky is perfectly cast as the scheming dog-napper that everyone loves to hate. He's no match for Beethoven and Billy. One word of warning though: if your kids have been asking for a pet, Beethoven's Big Break may make their demands increase. Jonathan Silverman ends up reversing his strict "No Dogs" policy by the end of the movie, and you may do the same.

I'm giving away two DVD copies of Beethoven's Big Break giveaway today. The movie comes out on December 26, but you can pre-order your copy at Amazon and Barnes&Noble.com today. The MSRP is $29.98 but it's available for $19.99 at Amazon and $24.99 at BN.com. The DVD includes bonus features like deleted scenes, ten minutes of gag reels from the set, special shots of Moises Arias joking and acting, and a behind the scenes explanation by the animal trainers who worked with the three dogs that played Beethoven.

To enter to win, just leave a comment here by Saturday, January 2. I'll select two winners at random that night. As usual, you can get extra chances to win by linking to this contest on your blog, and subscribing to my feeds for Chefdruck Musings and Chefdruck Reviews. You can also Tweet about it for an extra entry.

Here are some clips of the movie to give you a taste of the fun: