ROVER DANGERFIELD (1991)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code:
Rating: G
Duration: 74 Minutes 1 Second
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: James L. George, Bob Seeley
Cast: Rodney Dangerfield, Susan Boyd, Ronnie Schell, Shawn Southwick, Gregg Berger, Dana Hill, Robert Pine, Eddie Barth, Dennis Blair, Don Stewart
Rover Dangerfield (1991) was a passion project for the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield (Back To School), who wrote the screenplay based on his own idea, executive produced, starred in, and wrote music for it. It was originally intended it as an R-rated animated comedy flick until the studio demanded a more kid-friendly toon. In it Dangerfield provides his unmistakable voice talents as the high-rolling Rover, a Las Vegas hound who lives with his showgirl owner Connie (Shawn Southwick, TV's Knight Rider) who spoils him rotten. He's living in the lap of luxury for sure, but when Connie leaves town for a few weeks and leaves the pooch with her scheming boyfriend Rocky (Sal Landi), Rover unintentionally foils a deal the sleazeball's making with some unsavory gangster types. Mean-spirited Rocky stuffs the pooch into a burlap sack and tosses him over the Hoover Dam. Before he can drown he is hooked by some nearby fisherman who rescue him from his watery fate, throwing the unconscious dog into the back of their truck, and when he comes to he takes off, finding himself stranded in rural farmland, where he is nearly run over by a combine tractor being operated by farmer Cal (Gregg Berger, Spider-Man: The Animated Series), and his son, Danny (voiced by Dana Hill, Audrey Griswold from National Lampoon's European Vacation). The kid asks his dad to let him keep him keep Rover, which his dad reluctantly agrees to, just so long as the dog doesn't get himself into trouble on the farm.
Easier said than done, Rover is no country dog and he doesn't take to the outdoor life on the farm all that well, but with the help the other kindly farm dogs Duke (Robert Pine, TV's CHiPS), Champ (Eddie Barth, TV's Simon & Simon), Lem (Dennis Blair, Ea$y Money), Clem (Don Stewart, Carnival Magic), and the foxy collie Daisy (Susan Boyd) that lives next door, Rover starts to fit in just fine. That is, until an vicious pack of hungry wolves arrive and cause a ruckus, which results in Rover getting the blame for the death of a turkey he was actually saving, and ends up staring down the barrel of a shotgun more than once.
This tale of barnyard blues is a lot of fun, I know I saw this around the time it first made the rounds on cable or VHS, but I had forgotten most of it in the interim. Watching it now I can see that it's bit choppy in it's storytelling and editing, you can kind of see that it started out as an R-rated idea before the studio interfered at some point, there's an attempted dog drowning, threats of putting Rover down for his bad behavior, some seedy Vegas atmosphere, and an offscreen murder (presumably), but it's been kiddified to a degree, which makes it even weirder, but there were a lot of kid-friendly flicks around this time that has oddball inappropriateness so it's not than unusual I guess.
What I absolutely love about the flick is it's animation style, I didn't remember it all that well and watching for the first time in over 30 years I was quite keen on it, having been done by Hyperion Animation (The Brave Little Toaster). The character design of Rover is fun as well, the chubby pooch has a red tie just like Dangerfield, and they filmed the comic performing his lines so that they could capture his overwrought facial expressions in the animation, and it works quite nicely they really got the eyes and mouth down pat. Dangerfield does good work voicing the animated pooch version of himself, I am such a huge fan of his comedy ever since I was a kid and saw him on the late night talk shows and various 80's comedies like Caddyshack, and his schtick translates well to the animation style. Dangerfield also wrote and performs a few songs featured in the film, that's right, it's also a musical, my favorite being "I'd Never Do It On A Christmas Tree", a song about not pissing on xmas tree - perfect kid's fare; "I'll soak an oak, I'll splash an ash, I'll do it on a peach or cherry, but if I sprinkle on a spruce, Christmas won't be merry" - I love it!
It's great to see this underrated, animated comedy gem get a proper restoration with top-notch A/V from the Warner Archive - here's hoping it rediscovered by the masses, because I am of the opinion that everyone needs more Rodney Dangerfield in their life.
Audio/Video: Rover Dangerfield (1991) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Warner Archive in1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1) looking quite wonderful. The source is or has been restored to immaculate condition, grain structures look natural, and the animated colors are pleasing throughout. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles, the track is clean and well-balanced, there are no issues with hiss or audio blemish, the voice cast sounds terrific and the musical numbers shine with the uncompressed audio.
The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster artwork. Extras include a pair of somewhat rare dog-themed WB Cartoons that look terrific and run about 14-min together, a song selection option, plus the 2-min Theatrical Trailer.
Special Features:
Special Features:
- WB Cartoons: Dog Daze (6:54) & Dog Collared (7:01)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (1:46)
- Song Selection
Screenshots from the Warner Archive Blu-ray:
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