Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Beethoven's Treasure Tail Blu-ray Movie Review

Fool's gold or a diamond in the rough?

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 1, 2014

Eight films and a television series is a pretty good run for Beethoven, a franchise that started out somewhat meagerly with a family-friendly early 1990s Comedy about a family that adopts a large, slobbering St. Bernard. Not a cash cow for Universal but certainly a staple on release calendars and video store shelves, the franchise's staying power is impressive and that the movies, now relegated to the densely populated direct-to-video marketplace, remain on the positive side of "good" is a testament to the viability of the furry, family-friendly niche that they so commendably fill. Beethoven's Treasure Tail is the latest adventure featuring the world's favorite St. Bernard. Though it favors a Hallmark channel movie more so than a moderately budgeted front line adventure, the picture nevertheless captures a charm, innocence, and family-friendly cadence in a series of predictable yet tender and humorous misadventures that are shaped through stock materials but nevertheless emerge victorious thanks to a none-to-serious yet fairly polished and proper front that will leave the audience smiling, which is all one can really ask of a movie of this variety.

By the glow of things, that's Marsellus Wallace's soul inside the box.

Beethoven is the world's most recognizable canine actor, but when a bout of doggie depression sets in, he and his trainer Eddie (Jonathan Silverman) are fired from their latest movie. The two head home in a cramped car that breaks down on the outskirts of a quaint little seaside town called O'Malley's Cove, home of a famous lost treasure that has yet to be unearthed. Eddie and Beethoven are stuck when it becomes clear that their car won't be fixed for a while. While Eddie tries to finagle his way into a Bed and Breakfast run by a strict housekeeper (Jayne Eastwood) who doesn't take kindly to pets, Beethoven rescues a young boy named Sam (Bretton Manley) who is out to find O'Malley's treasure. His mother Anne (Kristy Swanson) runs a local museum dedicated to the treasure. While Eddie tries to leave town, he grows closer to Anne while Beethoven and Sam grow fond of one another. They must all team up to save the town from an evil, German-accented developer named Fritz Bruchschnauser (Jeffrey Combs).

Beethoven's Treasure Tail sinks its teeth into a meaty bite of unoriginality, but it's the jovial, almost carefree way it goes about its business that keeps the movie evenly grounded and the audience almost consistently satisfied. The picture works through a stock narrative populated by the typical family-friendly misadventures that generally involve Beethoven doing something he should not, like jumping in a bath, breaking free from his leash, and generally causing a good bit of mayhem that usually turns out for the best, anyway, like he's a silent hero who lets his actions, not his bark, do the talking. Much of the film's humor comes by way of the humans tugging on either side of his leash, with those who love and understand and accept him on one side and the film's "villains" who would see him on a shorter leash, so to speak, on the other, which primarily include a scheming German-accented developer and an uptight landlord who runs a very tight bed and breakfast ship. But the film never relies completely on Beethoven. It keeps the greater plot, as simple as it may be, and the human characters, as routinely defined as they may be, front-and-center, allowing Beethoven to steal every scene, not define every scene. The film certainly knows how to operate on this particular playground and with this particular variety of plot devices at work, adhering to simple family-oriented entertainment and overcoming its flaws with charm and heart, exactly the approach movie like this needs to succeed. Yet the film feels like it overstays its welcome, but just by a little bit. Pacing isn't poor but it does get mired down in some repetitive shenanigans in its middle stretch, not to mention spending a little too much time with Bruchschnauser and his lackey. The film sometimes feels a little too oversimplified, but it again saves itself with so much charm that the audience can't help but be pleased, even when the movie is not quite at its familiar best.

The cast does well to reinforce basic film characteristics with simple yet effective performances of routine but relatable characters. Jonathan Silverman and Kristy Swanson share an almost fairy tale chemistry in a classic "movie of the week" sort of way. It's no surprise how their destinies will be tied together once she's introduced. All of the character and plot dynamics revolve around her and her work -- she's the town museum curator who is the single mother to the treasure hunting boy Beethoven saves -- and it's all a matter of tidy plot convenience that the movie handles like an old pro. The spark she and Eddie share is palpable even if predictable. Their burgeoning relationship never gets in the way but only serves to better define the greater story around it. Jeffrey Combs is excellent in a role that allows him to ham it up as best he can and still remain a viable comedy villain who generates more laughs than anyone in the film because he's so loose with the part and adept at making it work, particularly behind his German accent and, as the film goes along, many costume changes, from buccaneering pirate to bandaged patient. Of course, it's the slobbering, lumbering Beethoven everyone wants to see, and the pooch manages to display a good bit of vitality even through drooped eyes and show a friendly, relatable spirit even through buckets of drool.

Beethoven's Treasure Tail Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Beethoven's Treasure Tail's 1080p transfer leaves a bit to be desired. At its best, it's a satisfactory presentation. At its worst, it showers the viewer with bland, unexciting details and flat colors. Fortunately, there's more a middle ground that favors the latter but shows signs of the former. Details are usually tepid, failing to find much natural complexity on surfaces like skin, clothes, animal hair, carpeting, or wood. Occasionally, it displays some more gorgeously complex lines, but such are the exception rather than the rule of lightly smeary and pasty surfaces. Image clarity, however, generally satisfies but never really aids in bringing the image to vivid, complicated life. Colors share a similar fate, occasionally popping but mostly looking fairly drab and a little bit warm, both in slightly lower-light interiors and bright, sunshine-drenched exteriors alike. Skin tones are reflective of that. Blacks don't appear to cause too many problems. The image never suffers from any serious bouts of noise, blockiness, or other eyesores. On the whole, however, this is but a fair image that will leave viewers wanting something a little more hearty.

Beethoven's Treasure Tail Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Beethoven's Treasure Tail barks out a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. It's not particularly invigorating, but it gets the basic sonic job done. Musical balance could stand a little tweaking in an early aggressive number where the surrounds push as hard as the fronts, but as the film progresses and music becomes a little more airy and light, balance returns with a proper front-specific presence. There's a good low end push during a comical explosion in one shot and a few little odds and ends ambient effects and light action elements to enjoy, such as during a sequence when Beethoven causes quite the stir at a large gathering. Mostly, however, this is a dialogue intensive presentation that plays the spoken word clearly and accurately from the center.

Beethoven's Treasure Tail Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Beethoven's Treasure Tail contains only a handful of trailers for additional kid-friendly Universal titles, including The Little Rascals Save the Day, Barbie and the Secret Door, Thomas & Friends: Tale of the Brave, Monster High: Freaky Fusion, and The Nut Job. Inside the case buyers will find an iTunes/UV digital copy voucher alongside a DVD copy of the film.

Beethoven's Treasure Tail Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Beethoven's Treasure Tail feels a little bit like Lassie meets The Goonies. The friendly, helpful, almost all-knowing and smarter-than-thou canine helps find buried treasure, save the town, bring a couple of lonely hearts closer together, befriend a child in need, defeat the villain, and so on and so forth. It's all very basic fluff-stuff but it knows its place and plays to its audience. It's funny and tender, a little overlong at times but well acted and charmingly assembled. For a DTV outing of a franchise now on its eighth entry, the movie is pretty good. Beethoven's Treasure Tail features passably bland video, good audio, and no supplements. Recommended.