Lights Out
Copyright (c) 1994, Bruce Diamond
All rights reserved



        Ŀ
           BEETHOVEN'S 2ND:  Rod Daniel, director.  Len Blum,      
           screenplay.  Starring Charles Grodin, Bonnie Hunt,      
           Nicholle Tom, Christopher Castile, Sarah Rose Karr,     
           Debi Mazar, Chris Penn, Ashley Hamilton, and Maury      
           Chaykin.  Universal.  Rated PG.                         
        

          Bigger is better in Hollywood, and so for BEETHOVEN'S 2ND,
     (which is actually a cute title for a sequel), Beethoven not only
     gets a girlfriend, but he also gets a litter of four pups, in a
     film that'll have the kids cheering and the parents mildly amused
     for an hour and a half.  The plot, such as it is, puts the mommy
     dog, Missy, in the center of a divorced couple's power struggle:
     Regina (Debi Mazar, looking every inch the ice queen here) wants
     $50,000 in alimony, but Brillo (Maury Chaykin) doesn't have it,
     so she takes the dog.  Beethoven discovers Missy on one of his
     jaunts and the romance begins.  The two youngest Newton kids (the
     family that Beethoven owns), Ted (Christopher Castile) and Emily
     (Sarah Rose Karr) spirit the puppies away before Regina can get
     her hands on them, and spend time away from school to wean the
     puppies and keep them hidden from mom and dad (George and Alice
     Newton, played by Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt, respectively).

          Those are the basics.  Of course, the parents find out and
     of course general mayhem ensues as the filmmakers put the Newton
     family through the requisite music video montage of stupid pet
     tricks:  peeing in a briefcase, chewing up socks, muddying up
     the laundry, and, in the most amusing scene, riding a skateboard
     down a driveway.

          In that most typical of movie coincidences, the Newtons take
     a trip to the mountains and end up running across Regina and her
     schlumpf of a boyfriend, Floyd (Chris Penn, in another strange
     character role), at a fair (of course the Newtons take the
     puppies on vacation with them, and of course they take them to
     the fair, otherwise there'd be no second half to the movie.)
     And, of course, Regina takes the puppies, or there'd be no reason
     for Debi Mazar or Chris Penn to be here.  The two are so
     relentlessly cruel and stupid (let's not mention the suspended-
     puppy-over-the-cliff scene, shall we?) that they're little more
     than cartoon villains.

          Between threatening scenes with the bad guys (and why can't
     an animal movie just be about the human-pet interaction, instead
     of throwing in these strange villains and wildly-unbelievable
     situations? -- both BEETHOVEN movies have fallen prey to this
     formula), the eldest sibling, Ryce (Nicholle Tom) falls for two
     different boys, a teenage Lothario (Ashley Hamilton, who eerily
     resembles a young Warren Beatty), and a cycle-riding Deadhead
     (Danny Masterson).  Ryce's indecision serves as a minor plot
     counterpoint to Beethoven's "romance" with Missy, and Beethoven
     indirectly helps Ryce decide by giving the Lothario his well-
     deserved comeuppance.

          Like its forebear, BEETHOVEN'S 2ND is a mere trifle --
     harmless fun that wastes the usually-witty and entertainingly-
     sardonic Charles Grodin.

     RATING:  2 (out of 10)

