Beethoven's 2nd (PG, 1993)

It's love at first sight when Beethoven meets Missy, a female St. Bernard, in the park. He helps her escape from her owner's ex-wife Regina and her boyfriend Floyd, who plans to use Missy as a tool to negotiate for more alimony. A few months later, the Newton kids track Beethoven to the basement of Regina's building, where Missy has given birth to puppies. The kids get Beethoven and the pups away just before Regina finds Missy. Regina wants the puppies back after she learns that they're worth a lot of money. Though the kids try to keep the puppies a secret, skipping school in order to keep them fed, Mr. and Mrs. Newton find out about them. Reluctantly agreeing to keep them, Mr. Newton takes the family on a Fourth of July camping trip. Little does he know that Regina and Floyd are staying nearby.

If one St. Bernard is cute, how about six of them? That's the idea behind this sequel, which is in some ways better than the first, at least for parents. For one thing, Beethoven isn't quite so sloppy as he was last time. And father George Newton (the typically droll Charles Grodin) isn't treated like such an idiot. An 11-year-old viewer liked Beethoven's 2nd better than the first for the cute romance between Beethoven and Missy.

Like the previous film, Beethoven's 2nd is thinly plotted, essentially only an excuse to put these dogs onscreen. It was in poor taste to include a scene in which daughter Ryce is nearly raped by a drunken boy on whom she has a crush in a movie otherwise suitable for young children.

Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Rod Daniel
Cast: Bonnie Hunt, Chris Penn, Debi Mazar
Genre: Family and Kids
Run time: 87 minutes
Theatrical release: April 15, 1993
DVD release: June 3, 2003
MPAA Rating: PG
MPAA explanation: mild language and unsuitable teen behavior.