Beethoven (movie)
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Beethoven (1991) is a movie about a St. Bernard dog named after the composer Ludwig van Beethoven He begins his life as a puppy at a pet store, and narrowly escapes two villains led by Herman Varnick (Jones), an evil veterinarian, who makes his money by testing out weaponry and volatile chemicals on dogs. He goes to the Newton house and the family falls in love with him except the father, George (Grodin). The puppy grows from cute furball who messes everywhere to a medium-sized dog shedding on all the furniture and snacking off the table to a 185-pound slobbering beast whose hobby is trashing the house daily and enjoys jumping on people. In general, he drives his owners crazy and outsmarts them regularly. Eventually, Beethoven and his family save the day, rescuing countless puppies from the veterinarian who attempted to steal Beethoven at the beginning of the movie.
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Plot
Beethoven starts off the movie as a puppy in a pet shop. Every child that walks by seems to pick out another puppy, and the owner of the store is having a terrible time selling Beethoven. Eventually, though, two thieves (Platt and Tucci) steal Beethoven and most of the other dogs in the pet shop, hoping to take him to the laboratory of Herman Varnick (Jones), who plans to test weaponry on the dogs. Another small dog, however, helps Beethoven escape his cage. The other dogs notice and become excited. When one of the two thieves come to check on the dogs, Beethoven and the smaller dog jump out of the back of the truck.
The smaller dog is pursued by one of the thieves while Beethoven hides overnight in a trash can. In the morning, Beethoven sneaks into the Newton house and subsequently finds Emily (Karr), who believes that her father has finally bought her a puppy. While her father, George (Grodin) demands that the puppy be thrown out, his wife, Alice (Hunt), and his children insist that the puppy should stay, and George finally gives in to their demands. While they are naming the dog, Emily plays a famous part of one of Ludwig van Beethoven's symphonies, and the dog immediately begins to bark. Thus, the family decides to name him Beethoven.
As Beethoven grows up, he helps the children of the Newton household to become more confident. First, he helps Ted (Castile) gain more confidence in combatting the bullies at his school. Ted challenges the bullies to a fistfight, and Beethoven growls at them from behind him. Subsequently, Beethoven runs away when Ted sees that the bullies have fled, making Ted believe that he caused the bullies to run.
He also helps Ryce (Tom) to talk to her crush, Mark. Beethoven forcibly drags Ryce nearer to him after Ryce confesses her obsession. Thus, Ryce is finally able to talk, even if non-romantically, with Mark and overcomes her insecurity of not being perfect.
Eventually, Herman Varnick examines Beethoven and tells the Newton family that Beethoven has rabies and must be euthanized. Emily, however, sees him hit Beethoven and protests, but the final judgment falls on George Newton, who decides to side with the veterinarian in order to keep his children safe. The veterinarian subsequently takes Beethoven to his testing facilities, where he plans to test explosive firearms on Beethoven.
Meanwhile, the Newton family has second thoughts about sending Beethoven away. The family follows Varnick to the facilities and sees what he has planned for Beethoven. George leaves the car and crashes through the glass ceiling of the building, while Ted drives the family car through the wall of the facility, knocking over some toxic chemicals and impaling Varnick with many syringes full of poison. Varnick dies, and the Newton family adopts all of the dogs he was keeping captive.
Cast (first film only)
- George Newton, played by Charles Grodin
- Alice Newton, played by Bonnie Hunt
- Ryce Newton, played by Nicholle Tom
- Ted Newton, played by Christopher Castile
- Emily Newton, played by Sarah Rose Karr
- Herman Varnick, played by Dean Jones
- Harvey, played by Oliver Platt
- Vernon, played by Stanley Tucci
- Brad, played by David Duchovny
- Brie, played by Patricia Heaton
Sequels and Spinoffs
The movie was followed by several sequels: Beethoven's 2nd (puppies) in 1993 and three direct-to-video movies, Beethoven's 3rd(Road Trip) (2000), Beethoven's 4th(Obedience School) (2001) and Beethoven's 5th(2003). It also inspired an animated 5 episode series in 1993.