If there are two things that people take very, very seriously, it’s dogs and beloved children’s classics, so Paramount Pictures was already stepping into a minefield when it decided to revamp Clifford the Big Red Dog for a live-action movie. On Wednesday, the studio released its first teaser, which offers a brief glimpse at the CGI Clifford, and people are having some very strong reactions to his new look. We’re talking a backlash that’s already bringing up memories of Cats and Sonic the Hedgehog, whose questionable CGI launched a thousand memes.
it’s been so long since we had a CGI monstrosity to bully. we needed this
https://t.co/GA5NfJBiCH
— soul nate (@MNateShyamalan) November 25, 2020
Before you get too far down the rabbit hole here, I’m going to let you know that this is not this direction of Clifford we were looking for. It is in the uncanny valley of creepy. He is less Crayola red and more of a rolled and blood red.
pic.twitter.com/hU6yci5Cxk
— Stella (@StellaLeo19) November 25, 2020
Not even REMOTELY big enough. Look how MASSIVE this animal is…And did they spray paint him? pic.twitter.com/ihHm6Kl0Vb
— The Drive-In Podcast (@thedriveinpod) November 25, 2020
You know how you fixed sonic paramount you might want to do the same here
— Cutwillrise #ReleaseTheAyerCut (@Cutwillriseayer) November 25, 2020
First impressions are important pic.twitter.com/wMz8NQWNSH
— Jayden Marvel (@GemBiscuits) November 25, 2020
Also, you can’t really argue with this logic right here:
There already was a “live action Clifford movie”: pic.twitter.com/PaXz7kHD49
— Usagi BroHimbo (@RancorTweets) November 25, 2020
In the new Clifford movie’s defense, the teaser did generate lots of replies with dog pics, so not everyone was completely mystified by what is clearly a spray-painted dog. It’s totally spray paint.
Here’s the official synopsis:
When middle-schooler Emily Elizabeth (Darby Camp) meets a magical animal rescuer (John Cleese) who gifts her a little, red puppy, she never anticipated waking up to find a giant ten-foot hound in her small New York City apartment. While her single mom (Sienna Guillory) is away for business, Emily and her fun but impulsive uncle Casey (Jack Whitehall) set out on an adventure that will keep you on the edge-of-your-seat as our heroes take a bite out of the Big Apple. Based on the beloved Scholastic book character, Clifford will teach the world how to love big!
Clifford the Big Red Dog hits theaters on November 5, 2021.
(Via Paramount Pictures)