Uncle Freddy
Young Sara Newton (Daveigh Chase) and Beethoven head to the town of Quicksilver to spend the summer with her Uncle Freddy (Dave Thomas) having been kicked out of summer camp because she wouldn't use an out house, something which worries her as she is concerned that Quicksilver might not have any plumbing. But not long after arriving Beethoven digs up an old ten dollar bill which raises the local's suspicions who think it is counterfeit until Sheriff Dempsey (Faith Ford - Trading Christmas) says it is part of a long lost fortune and suddenly everyone wants Beethoven's help to find the rest of the fortune. But legend has it that the famous bank robbers who probably stole that money still haunt the town.
As I mentioned in my review of "Beethoven's 4th" when you get sequels made long after the original they tend to disappoint those who enjoyed the original. As such if you were a fan of the original "Beethoven" this 5th movie in the "Beethoven" franchise is going to disappoint as all it does is take a "Scooby-Doo" idea and some other cliches with Beethoven and the character of Sarah Newton stuck in the middle. But whilst I found "Beethoven's 5th" week in comparison to the original as a piece of entertainment for young children it still works.
So as I said "Beethoven's 5th" owes its basic storyline to "Scooby-Doo" with the old lost fortune and ghosts but before we get there it serves up some John Hughes style cliche as we meet Uncle Freddy who would give Uncle Buck a run for his money for being lazy. Now cleaning up the empty food cartons from a kitchen with a fire hose is simply stupid yet I know that if I was 8 years old I would find it funny. The same when it comes to Uncle Freddy using a mechanics trolley as a skateboard because it is from a grown ups point of view lame but fun for young audiences and there is a lot more of this sort of thing to amuse children. In fact there are more cliches as well with Sarah making a young friend as soon as she arrives.
As for the actual "Scooby-Doo" inspired storyline, well it is really little more than a vehicle for all the fun. But it is also a vehicle to include a lot of characters who you might recognize from various TV shows such as Faith Ford, John Larroquette, Katherine Helmond and Dave Thomas, even Clint Howard shows up in a typically quirky character.
What this all boils down to is that "Beethoven's 5th" is again a comedy which works if all you are looking for is some inoffensive entertainment for children. But it isn't a great deal of fun for those who enjoyed the original when it first came out.
Tags: Dog Movies
