User reviews

Maybe it's a childhood thing. In fact it probably is. Considering the fact that i was at least 5 when I first watched this film, a young boy growing up in Ireland during times where nothing particularly amazing was happening. To be honest, back then i had absolutely no idea what i was watching. I just liked Rodney Dangerfield's voice. It was amusing. The song's were amusing, and Rover's little gimmicks every now and then sent me and my siblings chuckling and laughing, pointing at the screen and reenacting the said moments that had made us laugh so much "He look's kind of fat' I'm 17, and i've re-watched this on YouTube due to my sister sending me the link with the caption 'Part 1 for you' and a little love-icon. And yes, i watched it all over again, and found myself laughing at all the little moments again, finding humour in what is essentially a weak film. It just brought back all the memories of living in my favourite place back to me, and although for others, this is a tedious film that hardly suffices for children's entertainment, let alone anything else. This film is my personal favourite family childhood film, which i will always love and defend to the bitter end.

Rover Dangerfield is an entertaining movie to pass the time; the plot is fine, the animation is excellent, and the music is nice; the soundtrack is very remarkable and has a lot of style; I recommend it.

Although the film suffers a bit from slow pacing and doesn't contain the technical magic of a Disney feature, it still retains a surprising sweetness. The story is centered entirely on the famous Dangerfield stage persona; and translating the comedian's raunchy material into an anthropomorphized lovable pooch must have been no small task. Visually, the artists make strong use of colors and shadings to reinforce mood, although many scenes lack zest and are just too static. Story-wise, I rate the film above-average for its warmth and low-key humor. Children these days are only interested in the hyperactive action of Pokemon, but the littlest ones will likely be charmed. "Rover Dangerfield" may look flat when held up to "Dinosaur" but it's certainly got more heart. 7 out of 10.

'Rover Dangerfield' is the animated story of dog who becomes lost from his master and from the city that he calls home, and on his journey back, he meets different characters and ends up working on a farm. The dog is unmistakenly voiced by Rodney Dangerfield, and it is an animation that both children and adults can enjoy. The humor is aimed more at adults than children in some cases, but it is perfectly acceptable for children. The story is not the best, but the sense of humor and the situations that Rover finds himself in make up for a pretty slow story in some cases. It's not the best animation, but overall, I rate it just about average.

Rover (Rodney Dangerfield) is a high rolling, care-free, one liner spewing Basset Hound who lives in Las Vegas embracing the highroller lifestyle as the pet of Vegas showgirl Connie (Shawn Southwick). When Rover inadvertently disrupts a mafia deal with Connie's sleazy boyfriend, Rocky (Sal Landi), costing him a large amount of money, Rocky swears revenge on Rover. With Connie set to go on the road she has Rocky petsit for Rover which he's all too happy to do. Rocky drives Rover to the Hoover Dam chucking him off in a tied up sack where he's saved from drowning by two fisherman and wanders around the countryside until he comes across a family farm. The farmer, Cal (Gregg Berger), doesn't want Rover believing him to be useless, but his son Danny (Dana Hill) takes a shine to the dog and reluctantly allows Rover to stary. Rover struggles adapting to life on a farm, but eventually manages to make a more determined effort after falling in love with Daisy (Susan Boyd), a Collie from next door.

Rover Dangerfield is a 1991 animated film produced, written by, and starring noted comedian Rodney Dangerfield. The movie had its origins in the mid 80s as a concept outlined by Harold Ramis and Dangerfield both of whom had collaborated on the hit films Caddyshack and Back to School. The film was initially written as an R-rated animated film in the style and tone of something like Ralph Bakshi's urban films, but the film was the subject of heavy interference by Warner Bros. Who gutted large portions of the script's raunchier and more risqué material in order to reverse engineer this R-rated film into a G-rated family film. The exact reasoning behind why has never been explained as Dangerfield only briefly touched on the film in his autobiography and the film has been mostly forgotten with no real trade articles or box office information to speak of (though it most likely didn't do well). The working theory posited by some was Dangerfield pulling out of the doomed Caddyshack II may have resulted in some bad blood between Dangerfield and Warner Bros. With the sabotage of Rover a "tit for tat" action, but that's just speculation. Regardless of its history, the end result may have Dangerfield's stamp, but it's a far cry from his best work.

To start off on a positive note, the movie is certainly a gorgeous looking movie (in part). The movie was the sophomore feature of studio Hyperion Animation, the same outfit who put together the independently produced animated feature The Brave Little Toaster which was regrettably denied a theatrical release as Disney opted to instead hype it as an original for their cable venture The Disney Channel. Given how good Brave Little Toaster looked for a movie that didn't have studio backing, it's no surprise the studio was able to give us some stronger and more dynamic visuals with an actual budget behind them. The film features some well done model work and environments with both the Vegas scenes and the farm scenes very fluid with good line work and strong sense of atmosphere and both the human and animal models look pretty good. The one major exception however is on Rover himself who is a massive miscalculation because in contrast to all the other animals of the movie, Rover has been quasi-anthropomorphized with a design that tries to capture Dangerfield's look and facial expressions on Rover and it does not work at all. Rover's face in particular often looks dead eyed because the animators were so focused on capturing the look of Dangerfield's real life eyes that they didn't pay attention to the fact his eyes often look in two different directions at once. Rover also is the only animal character who can stand up and has hands and the fact he keeps flip flopping between being a quadruped and having hands with opposable thumbs is really distracting.

On the writing level Dangerfield shows himself struggling with being the sole credited writer on this film and even if he had gotten an R-rating as intended I'm not convinced the film would've worked. Despite the film carrying relics from the raunchier version of the script such as the Vegas setting, rover being a vice ridden gambler, Rocky the mafia antagonist, or the plethora of scantily clad showgirls, the overall plot wouldn't have differed all that much from what we got and it would've just included more "blue" jokes. The plot of the movie is clearly intended to be thin by design because it's obvious Dangerfield wanted the primary focus to be on the jokes more than anything plot or character related. The problem however is that Dangerfield writes the movie like he's delivering jokes in front of an audience and not within the context of a film narrative so Dangerfield keeps cracking one-liners with no sense of pacing, setting, or context because his strength is and always has been his delivery but that's ALL the film has going for it. Rover isn't really a character in this film because unlike his roles in Caddyshack or Back to School there hasn't been any effort dedicated to creating a character and from Rover's design it's clear the directive was "Dangerfield is a dog" and that's where it starts and ends because aside from a few puns about bones or paper training there's nothing that makes this character stand out. On occasion some of Dangerfield's jokes do land but it's usually because A) there's a straightman involved rather than the joke by itself, and B) like the Vegas setting there's usually a meaner context behind them that's also possibly a relic of the R-rated version. That's really a major problem with this movie in that there is no straightman to work off against Dangerfield and if you saw Caddyshack and Back to School the straightmens' reactions and lines were almost as big a part of those films as Dangerfield himself was.

Rover Dangerfield is an oddity of a movie that features telltale signs of production tampering especially with how disjointed and sloppily told the narrative is. It's highly unlikely that the original R-rated version of this film would've improved much upon it and it's equally doubtful the script or original animatics survive. Even if you're a hardcore lover of Dangerfield's style of humor and got mileage from Easy Money or Ladybugs this is only worth maybe a one time curiosity if that.

This movie did not get the recognition it deserved. I remember it played in the theatres for 2 or 3 weeks then went to video. That's a shame because it is actually really good. It's the story of Rover, a boozing, gambling Bassett hound (voiced by Rodney Dangerfield, of course) who has Las Vegas in the palm of his hand, er, paw. Cavorting with showgirl dogs by night and sleeping off hangovers by day makes him one contented pooch. However, trouble comes one night when a thug believes Rover is a witness to a crime. Rover is thrown into a bag and tossed over Hoover Dam to drown. But our hero escapes, floats down river and winds up on a farm!

This is where the humor and charm of the movie lies, and Rodney Dangerfield's classic schtick works perfectly as Rover tries in vain to assimilate himself into the dull farm life. Of course valuable life lessons will be learned amidst the humor.

This was a very good attempt at trying to make an animated film suited for adults, instead of the usual kiddie stuff that is released. That's not to say that kids couldn't enjoy this film too, but it's aimed at adults, with Rodney Dangerfield's brand of humor in some cases going over the heads of children. Unfortunately, the film didn't do well, and few attempts have been made since to target adults with animation. Rent this movie if you want to see an animated film that's a bit different from everything else out there, and especially if you are a Rodney Dangerfield fan. The jokes are funny, the animation topnotch and even the musical numbers are done well. This should have been a bigger hit than it was.

I remember renting this on VHS at a local gas station and had to copy it as much as I loved it. No Lion King just some fun old Americana cartoon.

Alright, this movie doesn't get nearly the recognition it deserves. Everyone keeps saying it's adult oriented and kids won't like it but this was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid. I watched it at least once a day for months. Granted, it's not one of the best movies ever made, but give it a chance. To me it was a nice change from Disney.

This quality children's animated flick shows how versatile Dangerfield can be. Ask most stand-up comedians known for being on the dirty side to write a G-rated screenplay and they wouldn't at all know how to go about it. But Dangerfield does, in this good (but not great) comic and somewhat chessy and predictable, but that's par for all kid flicks, film. Good songs include "It's a dog's life and I love it" and the amusing "I'll never do it on a Christmas tree". Great looking animation of Dangerfield as a dog, and the best K-9 one-liners

I am a big fan of animated movies and of animated shows, so I was interested in seeing Rover Dangerfield despite hearing from most people it was bad or mediocre. And mostly, while it is nothing great, I liked it.

The film is too short I feel, I personally think the film could have done with an extra 5-8 minutes. The story does have its charms, and the idea really intrigued me, but some scenes are static and move along a little too slowly. Also there are some inconsistencies such as the business with Rocky and Connie about the birthday party that could have been perhaps avoided had the film been longer. The voice acting is mostly good, but I too did not like the farm boy who was annoying and Ned Luke's delivery ranged from just decent to horrid. And some of the characters could have done with more personality, Rover Dangerfield(who had plenty of it), Daisy, Connie and Rocky excepted.

Of the voice acting, Rodney Dangerfield definitely steals the show, his voice is very distinctive and the delivery is great, often classic. Of the support cast, Susan Boyd is really quite lovely, likewise with Shawn Southwick, but Sal Landi as Rocky shows the most consistency. The animation mostly is good, with colours that don't look too flat and some of the background art is more than decent. And most of the characters are not too bad to look at either. The music and songs are not timeless classics, nor are they painful. I for one found them memorable and quite nice, especially Never Do it on a Christmas Tree. A vast majority of the time, the script works as well, Dangerfield's asides are funny, witty and perhaps even raunchy at times, even if some of the support characters could have had more to say.

In conclusion, not great, not crud. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Extreme fan of Rodney Dangerfield will probably not even like this film. The story follows a wise-cracking animated Dog, and seems to have been written with Dangerfield in mind.

The jokes are poor, but children will probably like it. Adults who have enjoyed Dangerfield's work will think to themselves "Well, at least it's not Barney!".

Get it for your kids if they want it, don't force them because you probably won't like it.

Throughout the years, there have been countless animated movies based off of a comedian's schtick, such as Bee Movie with Jerry Seinfeld and Louie CK with The Secret Life of Pets. However, going as far back as the early 90s, the late standup king of quips Rodney Dangerfield had been heavily involved with a movie starring himself as a wise cracking canine named Rover. While it was neither a critical nor commercial hit upon its release, and it did fade into obscurity for many years, it has now resurfaced as somewhat of a curious peak for animation and Dangerfield enthusiasts. And let me tell ya, there's a lot to appreciate about it.

The movie centers on a Las Vegas street dog named Rover (played by you know who), who gets dumped off the Hoover Dam by his showgirl owner's boyfriend. However, instead of drowning, Rover ends up on a farm where he learns the values of being a loyal house dog. Now from a premise like that, the storyline seems pretty routine and formulaic, and it wouldn't be that hard to figure out what goes on in the plot. However, what does elevate the conceptually generic concept is the execution, mainly from Dangerfield's charming standup routine, the surprisingly strong tone, and some notable dark content. In addition to showing the hidden grittiness of Las Vegas thugs, the film is not afraid to go dark when it comes to the consequences of Rover's mistakes. What's interesting to note is that this movie was intended to be much more mature and disturbing before Warner Bros forced the movie to be toned down for a family audience. Yet even with its restraints, one can tell just how much Dangerfield was vying for more of a bite in this otherwise hysterical romp.

In terms of stuff that was a result of the subdued tone, the movie showcases some straightforward albeit well choreographed musical numbers, with humorous lyrics from Dangerfield himself. While these songs may feel forced, they do spice up the momentum to either establish Rover's character or the general action with brisk pace (although one particular song about a Christmas Tree is entertaining for other reasons). In terms of other characters, the most notable ones include Rover's farm love interest Daisy, who does show as much concern for the guy as she does affection. Cal and his son Danny, the owners of Rover on the farm, take kindly to Rover but also elicit punishment to the mutt whenever he screws up, making them more interesting owners than his flat og owner Connie and her tough guy boyfriend Rocky. Everyone else are either just plot devices to dictate what Rover ends up doing in the movie or are just accompaniments to his standup routine. While some characters serve their purpose well, the rest aren't meant to have as much focus as Dangerfield.

If anyone had the most fun behind this film, it would have to be the animation crew, as they probably knew they were in for a wild ride. The way the animators designed Rover to resemble the real life Dangerfield in dog form shows off clever touches that would make most cartoonists giggle. In addition to the character designs looking like interesting mixes of Disneified cutesiness and urban graphic comic stylization, the character animation is very lively and fluid and full of personality all over the screen, even with the more realistic humans compared to the cartoony animals. However, the true highlights would have to be the experimental filmmaking, from the bold cinematic layouts, to the colorful effects work, to the briskly tight editing, so on and so forth. It feels like the crew had wanted to flex their muscles in visual storytelling so much that they chose to go full force on this movie. It's not uncommon when animated movies go so far in terms of playful filmmaking past the realm of live-action, and this film is a prime example of doing so in the purest way.

Of all the movies in the world where little is known about its production history, Rover Dangerfield is one of the most curious tales of rediscovery I've ever known. While seemingly stupid at first glance, the film offers a surprising amount of humor, pathos, playful filmmaking, and uplifting music to enlighten audiences. Even if you're not familiar with Dangerfield as a comedian, this film is worth checking out in terms of how far filmmakers will go to elevate a crazy idea like this. Dangerfield says he never got any respect at all, so let's see if this movie shall elicit some respect after nearly 30 years.

When this movie came out - I was it's target audience - a child.

And I loved this movie.

Rover Dangerfield, is a great movie for kids - better than half the crap, that parents are letting their kids watch, which is far too mature for them.

This movie is filled with enough seriousness, that kids don't feel like they're being talked down to - and enough adult appeal, that even my father used to always sit down with us to watch it.

The humour is great, the characters charming - particularly Rodney Dangerfield, as Rover - what I think people are forgetting it - it doesn't have to be perfect by your standards - unless you watched it as a kid at the time of it's release and were actually a child of that time - just let your kids watch it, and ask what they think...

You probably watch what they think is crap, so who are you to be a judge?

This was, along with "An American Tail" the two favourite animated movies I had ever seen, until it all changed with Toy Story, Shreck, Monsters Inc, Nemo, and all those other new ones. I love the humour in it, and the story line is like out on one of those good ol'e Disney Movies.

I was not to sure in the start of the movie, as there is some singing in it to, and lets be honest here, Rodney Dangerfield does not have the bes voice in the world, The jokes used in the movie might be a little old, at least some of them, but all in all its good jokes.

The quality of the animations in more or less Disney I would say, and I would not say it can match "An American Tail" as that movie is excellent with regards to colours used in the sunset scenes.

The story line rings a bell, and do remind me of another movie, but I am not sure which one, its maybe even a couple of other movies it may remind you of, but it does have its part of sadness, and happiness, love and hate, as a good movie should

This is a very delightful kids movie. It's cute, and the songs are fun and entertaining. This was always a favorite of my kids and if I could find it on DVD I would be buying it for my grandkids. If you can watch Spongebob Square Pants as a parent with your kids, this movie is 10x's more pleasurable. Not only that, it creates memories. The storyline is about the pet of a Las Vegas showgirl who is used to the "good life", must now make it on his own as a street dog. He has attitude at first, but as time goes on he changes his ways. It has many little life lessons to be learned along the way,if you pay attention to whats going on. The mannerisms and characteristics of Rodney Dangerfield are cleverly captured in the animated main character "Rover". Rodney Dangerfield himself provides the voice for this lovable mutt. The most favorite song and most memorable one was "I'll never do it on a Christmas Tree" - "it" being peeing on the tree. My kids thought it was very funny and played it over and over again until they learned it and sang it around the house. I've been searching for this wonderful movie on DVD for a long time and hope to see it become available sometime soon.

Rodney Dangerfield, Harold Ramis & Warner Bros animation that belies the classic Bugs Bunny years creates a rare cartoon that may be only for fans of this classic styled cartoons and Dangerfield but it delivers. The only drawback is that this was supposed to be an adult film (R-Rating) but was limited by WB studios to stay within the G-Rating and doesn't get the chance to go all-in for the type of adult-themed Dangerfield humor. But even with these limitations you get the song "I'll Never Do it (urinate) on a Christmas Tree" that highlights the musical numbers.

A rare gem that provides viewers with one of the last WB cartoons that is reminiscent of the golden age (pre-digital graphics) that also highlights Rodney's routines that fit perfectly in a stray dog who struggles to find...RESPECT for himself. Look for Aretha's song playing in the background in the first 20 minutes, while also playing classic Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc) in the background earlier on to provide a nod to the masters. Even Seth MacFarlane gave a nod to this film on Family Guy (S16, E15) where we see Rover Dangerfield in one of the dog cages. At least Seth was watching!

A wonderful effort from a lost age of cartoons.

A street-smart dog from Las Vegas (voiced by Rodney Dangerfield) is dropped off in the middle of nowhere and must adapt to his surroundings and try to get back to his show-girl owner in this smelly little film that is disguised in a thin candy layer. Very adult-oriented flick that tried to bring in the younger audiences fails to entertain and ends up just being a long, whacked cartoon. 2 stars out of 5.