Now whenever I think about Clifford the Big Red Dog I can't help but think of Louis CK's latest special, Live at the Beacon Theater. In the special he talks about the most difficult parts of parenting and complains that he hates those books because of their lack of originality. "And they all tell the exact same story," Louis said, “'Look how big this dog is!' That’s the whole book. 'Here’s how big he was in the firehouse.' 'Here’s how big he was at Thanksgiving.” Who gives a shit? You just drew him big!" He then goes on to talk about crafting a real story about Clifford the Big Red dog involving the titular character accidentally stepping on a police officer and being put on trial. It's something that Illumination Entertainment might want to check out now that they are going to be the ones responsible for bringing the character to the big screen.
THR has gotten word that the animation studio, which has found success with titles like Dr. Seuss' The Lorax and Despicable Me, is now working with Universal Pictures to create a new live-action/animation hybrid based on the beloved children's books by Norman Bridwell. Matt Lopez, who previously wrote on movies like Bedtime Stories, Race to Witch Mountain, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice, has been hired to write the screenplay and will be making his directorial debut with the material. The story is about a young girl who falls in love with the runt in a litter of puppies and her love for said creature ends up making it grow to 25 feet tall.
It may be a bit, but Louis C.K. does have a point: how do you make a Clifford The Big Red Dog movie? You can't do 90 minutes of Clifford just walking around trashing places. That only works if the military is brought in to bring him down, but that's also a totally different movie than what they are probably going for.
