Clifford

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Clifford

PG

1994

1h 29m

Kids & Family

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

20%

Tomatometer

35 Reviews

67%

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5,000+ Ratings

When his brother asks him to look after his young son, Clifford (Martin Short), Martin Daniels (Charles Grodin) agrees, taking the boy into his home and introducing him to his future wife, Sarah (Mary Steenburgen). Clifford is fixated on the idea of visiting a famed theme park, and Martin, an engineer who helped build the park, makes plans to take him. But, when Clifford reveals himself to be a first-rate brat, his uncle goes bonkers, and a loony intergenerational standoff ensues.

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Critics Consensus

Ill-conceived and desperately unfunny, Clifford stars Martin Short as a 10-year-old boy. You read that correctly. That's the joke.

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Gene Siskel

Chicago Tribune

Dec 28, 2018

1/4

The kid is obnoxious from start to finish, and the way he fantasizes about his uncle's girlfriend (Mary Steenburgen) is tasteless.

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Peter Rainer

Los Angeles Times

Dec 28, 2018

Clifford, starring Martin Short as a precociously nasty 10-year-old, is not a good movie. It's not even good/bad. But Short has a few of those laugh-out-loud moments.

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Jay Boyar

Orlando Sentinel

Dec 28, 2018

Clifford never quite finds its tone. The course of the plot has an inevitability about it that is about as wearying as it is reassuring... And yet Clifford is intermittently hilarious, mainly thanks to Short's performance.

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Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

Jun 12, 2025

4/10

There are definitely merits to Clifford, but they are honestly few and far between, and the majority of the film is not terrible so much as just blandly ordinary.

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Andrew Galdi

Movie Bitches

Apr 24, 2024

Its not worthless but it is surely weird, with 15% more direction you could really have something here

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Avaryl Halley

Movie Bitches

Apr 24, 2024

This movie almost could have been great, the bones of a cult classic are there but I still love it.

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Candy

Nov 24, 2021

Loved it! very cute and funny

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Seth J

@RT50801635 Sep 13, 2026

Dude on paper Martin short as a 10-year-old trying to go to a dinosaur theme park and fighting everyone along the way to get there is freaking hilarious and the movie is hilarious.. It needs a sequel. Just have a new kid acting and AI deepfake Martin Shorts face on them and you have cinema gold!!

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Gregory V

@GreggVallarta Aug 15, 2026

The critics' reviews for this movie were so bad that I almost didn't watch it. I'm glad I did. Martin Short was hilarious. Just watching his facial expressions cracked me up. Was it Oscar-worthy? No, but for what it was, it was really funny. Charles Grodin was also great in his role as Uncle Martin. Great movie that doesn't require any thinking. Just sit back and enjoy it.

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Aurem A

@RT17800386 Aug 2, 2026

Maybe it’s because this is one of those movies I grew up on, but I think this movie is hilarious & classic. His flutophone alone… is comedy gold. We (my family) grew up with Three Amigos being one of our family’s favorites that we watched time and time again. (My little sister went through a phase when she was around 3 where she had to watch it every morning.) So… we already loved Martin Short. I don’t know why critics hate this so much… maybe it’s a matter of sense of humor. Either it makes you laugh or it doesn’t. My family was always big on humor. We grew up on Saturday Night Live as well (in particular the Will Ferrell/Cheri Oteri days). There are some jokes that didn’t age well, but overall it’s still funny. I watched it again about a year or so ago. Still love Stephen! 🙌

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Jack J

@bsmeczek Jun 7, 2026

I watched this wholly expecting it to be much worse, but it wasn't awful. It had a few things scattered here and there that warranted a chuckle at the least, but it's still nothing groundbreaking nor is it very great.

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Jack T

@RT40387522 Jun 7, 2026

Not great but surprisingly not awful

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Paul Flaherty

Director

Martin Short

Clifford Daniels

Charles Grodin

Martin Daniels

Mary Steenburgen

Sarah Davis

Dabney Coleman

Gerald Ellis

Richard Kind

Julien Daniels

Clifford: Official Clip - Obsessed with Dinosaur World

3:05

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Clifford: Official Clip - Clifford Meets Sarah

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Clifford: Official Clip - Tabasco Toast

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Clifford: Official Clip - Martin's Model Goes Kaboom

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Clifford: Official Clip - Going Nutty Nuts

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Clifford: Official Clip - Hyperdrive

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Clifford: Official Clip - I Need Chocolate!

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Clifford: Official Clip - Clifford Loves Uncle Martin

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Clifford: Official Clip - Dad is Furious

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Clifford: Larry the Scary Rex

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Know Your Critic: Writer and Editor Nicolas Rapold

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Synopsis

When his brother asks him to look after his young son, Clifford (Martin Short), Martin Daniels (Charles Grodin) agrees, taking the boy into his home and introducing him to his future wife, Sarah (Mary Steenburgen). Clifford is fixated on the idea of visiting a famed theme park, and Martin, an engineer who helped build the park, makes plans to take him. But, when Clifford reveals himself to be a first-rate brat, his uncle goes bonkers, and a loony intergenerational standoff ensues.

Director: Paul Flaherty
Producer: Larry Brezner, Pieter Jan Brugge
Screenwriter: William Porter, Steven Kampmann
Production Co: Brezner, Orion Pictures, Steinberg and Tenenbaum Entertainment (MBST), Morra
Rating: PG
Genre: Kids & Family, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 17, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $6.5M
Runtime: 1h 29m
Sound Mix: Surround

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