---
title: "Beethoven's 2nd"
year: 1993
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/beethovens-2nd"
fi1m_id: "beethovens-2nd"
imdb_id: "tt0106375"
tmdb_id: 10438
wikidata_id: "Q1306317"
fi1m_score: 57
critics_score: 62
critics_reviews: 7
published: "2026-10-04T23:28:05.676689+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-04T23:28:17.938890+00:00"
region: "AZ"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Beethoven's 2nd (1993)

Directed by Rod Daniel · 1h 29m · Family, Comedy

## Identity

Beethoven's 2nd

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/beethovens-2nd
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** beethovens-2nd
- **IMDb ID:** tt0106375
- **TMDB ID:** 10438
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1306317
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106375/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/10438, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1306317

**Fi1m score: 57** · Critics 62 from 7 reviews

*In a sentence:* Puppies hidden in the basement, a villain who hates dogs, and Charles Grodin slowly realising nobody in his house is on his side

> A sequel that knows what sold the first film and orders four more of it. The puppies are hard to resist and Charles Grodin’s long-suffering face still earns a laugh, but the script is a pretext, the gags repeat and the mountain finale belongs to a different film.

## Synopsis

Beethoven, the Newtons’ St Bernard, has settled into the family home when he meets Missy, another St Bernard, in the park and falls for her at once. Missy belongs to Regina (Debi Mazar), who cares nothing for the dog and means to sell her; her boyfriend Floyd (Chris Penn) does the lifting. When Missy has four puppies, the Newton children, Ryce (Nicholle Tom), Ted (Christopher Castile) and Emily (Sarah Rose Karr), smuggle them home and hide them in the basement. Their father, George (Charles Grodin), has already said that one dog is enough, so the puppies have to be fed, cleaned and kept quiet without his finding out. Their mother, Alice (Bonnie Hunt), has a husband and a basement to manage. Regina, meanwhile, wants the puppies back, because puppies are worth money.

## Review

The first [*Beethoven*](https://film.one/film/beethoven) (1992) made its money by putting a St Bernard in a tidy house and letting him ruin it. Rod Daniel’s sequel, which reached UK cinemas on 24 March 1994, has one idea about how to follow that, and it is the oldest in the business: more dogs. Beethoven meets Missy in the park, four puppies follow, the Newton children hide them in the basement, and George Newton (Charles Grodin), who lost the argument about one dog last time, now has five to lose to. It is slight and amiable, and at 89 minutes it still feels padded.

The puppies are the point and they deliver. Daniel and his editors, Sheldon Kahn and William D. Gordean, have worked out that a St Bernard puppy falling off a step needs no setup and no punchline, only a cut to a child’s face, and they get a good half-dozen laughs that way without visible effort. Grodin plays George as a man who knows he has already lost and is negotiating the terms. His best work is silent: a long look at something chewed, a pause before opening a door. We laughed out loud twice, both times at Grodin’s face rather than at anything a dog did, and both times with the faint suspicion that he was the only person on the set working.

Bonnie Hunt’s Alice is given little to do and does it with the ease Hunt has always had, so that a reaction shot looks like a decision. Nicholle Tom’s Ryce gets the only subplot about a person rather than a dog, a crush on an older boy, Taylor (Ashley Hamilton), which Len Blum’s script treats mostly as a chance to issue a warning about older boys. It is handled flatly. Ted (Christopher Castile) and Emily (Sarah Rose Karr) exist to carry puppies up and down stairs and look alarmed when the stairs creak.

Debi Mazar’s Regina is the villain, Missy’s owner, a woman who wants the dog only for what she will fetch, and Mazar plays her hard-mouthed and bored, as someone who thinks the suburbs are beneath her and says so with every look. April Ferry dresses her in clothes too tight and too loud for daytime, so we know what she is before she speaks. It is a broad performance and it is the right size for the film. Chris Penn, as her boyfriend Floyd, is there to be knocked over, and is. The trouble is the material around them. Blum’s script goes back, as the first film did, to the puppies’ bowels and bladders whenever it needs a laugh, and by the third such joke we had stopped laughing and started counting.

Bill Butler, who photographed [*Jaws*](https://film.one/film/jaws) (1975), shoots all of this in bright, even, shadowless light, lawns and kitchens and a basement better lit than most sitting rooms. It is television lighting, competent and anonymous, and it suits a film that has no secrets. Lawrence Miller’s Newton house is pale wood and gingham, built to be sat on by something heavy. Randy Edelman’s score is the film’s most tireless performer, a jaunty strings-and-woodwind figure that arrives a beat before every joke to say one is coming, and swells to full orchestra whenever two dogs look at each other. It is doing the work the script left undone, and it does it at volume.

For its last stretch the film moves the family and the dogs to the mountains for a holiday, and stops being a comedy about a household to become a children’s adventure, with a chase and a set piece we will not describe. The join shows. We felt the gear change, and we also felt the time: this is a short film and we still looked at our watch in its last twenty minutes, which is not where a comedy wants you looking. The holiday is there because the script needed somewhere for a climax to happen, and it never pretends otherwise.

Daniel made *K-9* (1989), so he knows a dog can carry a scene if the camera simply holds on it; here he trusts that about half the time and trusts the score the other half. Against the 1992 film this is about level: a little more plot, a few fewer good jokes, four more dogs. Children under eight will be delighted and will want the puppies back before the credits have finished. Adults will be content in the way one is content when a car journey ends sooner than feared. It carries a U certificate and earns it; nothing here will frighten anyone, the villains included.

*Fi1m score 57, published 4 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics take Beethoven’s 2nd for what it is: a cosy family sequel that does roughly what the first film did, with four puppies added. Nobody dislikes it and nobody is excited by it. The praise clusters on the cast rather than the dog: Charles Grodin is singled out repeatedly, Bonnie Hunt is mentioned warmly, and Debi Mazar’s dog-hating villain is the performance several reviews remember. The puppies themselves are credited with much of the sequel’s appeal.

The reservations are the expected ones. The puppy bodily-function jokes are called tiresome, the sentiment is thought heavy, and the holiday finale strikes one critic as contrived. The spread is narrow. The Los Angeles Times is the warmest, finding the sequel as funny and appealing as the original; Empire is the coolest, rating it passable entertainment mainly for very young children. Two of the seven reviews are too partial to yield a clear verdict either way.

## Straight answers

**Is Beethoven's 2nd worth watching?**

*Beethoven's 2nd* is worth watching for children under eight and for adults who can sit contentedly through a slight, amiable 89 minutes, and we scored it 57. The puppies and Charles Grodin's long-suffering face supply the laughs; the script is a pretext, the toilet gags repeat, and the mountain finale feels borrowed from another film.

**How long is Beethoven's 2nd, and what is it rated?**

*Beethoven's 2nd* runs 1h 29m. It is a family and comedy film.

**Where can I watch Beethoven's 2nd in Azerbaijan?**

*Beethoven's 2nd* is not on any streaming or rental service in Azerbaijan at the moment. It is available in 33 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How does Beethoven's 2nd compare to Beethoven?**

*Beethoven's 2nd* stands about level with [*Beethoven*](https://film.one/film/beethoven): a little more plot, a few fewer good jokes, four more dogs. The original is the plainer and slightly funnier film, with Grodin losing the argument about one dog for the first time, while the sequel trades that for puppies hidden in a basement and a holiday climax that belongs elsewhere. Younger children will prefer the sequel for the puppies alone.

**What should I watch after Beethoven's 2nd?**

After *Beethoven's 2nd*, try [*Beethoven*](https://film.one/film/beethoven) (1992, Fi1m 60): The original: one dog, one house, and Grodin losing the same argument for the first time. Then [*Lady and the Tramp*](https://film.one/film/lady-and-the-tramp) (1955, Fi1m 80): Disney’s dog romance, drawn rather than trained, and still the better love story; and [*Best in Show*](https://film.one/film/best-in-show) (2000, Fi1m 84): For the parents: Christopher Guest’s dog-show comedy, where the owners are the ones misbehaving.

### Reviews we read (7)

- **Los Angeles Times**, Kevin Thomas (80/100, inferred): Thomas finds the sequel just as funny and appealing as the original, and welcomes it as family entertainment. He especially praises Charles Grodin’s performance and the believable, if idealized, Newton family. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-17-ca-2777-story.html)
- **Variety**, Brian Lowry (70/100, inferred): Lowry finds the sequel reasonably entertaining and more pleasing than its predecessor. He praises its lively 101 Dalmatians-inspired children’s-film feel and Debi Mazar’s memorable villain, while noting that puppy bodily-function jokes remain tiresome. [Read](https://variety.com/1993/film/reviews/beethoven-s-2nd-1200434661/)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (64/100, inferred): The page could not be accessed, so the critic’s verdict and specific praise or complaint cannot be verified. No review text or rating was visible. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/beethovens-2nd-1993)
- **Time Out**, WH (64/100, inferred): The available text does not reveal the critic’s overall verdict. It singles out the four puppies as adding appeal to the sequel. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/beethovens-2nd)
- **Radio Times**, David Parkinson (3/5): Parkinson finds this cosy sequel entertaining despite its contrived holiday finale. He singles out the amiable performances of Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt, along with Debi Mazar’s villainy. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-iatz09/beethovens-2nd/)
- **The Guardian**, Charlie Lyne (50/100, inferred): The piece offers a playful, mostly plot-focused account rather than a clear verdict on the film. It singles out Beethoven and Missy’s romance and their antics foiling a dog-hating businesswoman. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/21/beethovens-2nd-netflix-charlie-lyne)
- **Empire**, Robin Brooks (45/100, inferred): Brooks finds the film passable entertainment mainly for very young children. He praises a few clever touches and amusing puppy gags, while noting the heavy sentiment. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/beethoven-second-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Rod Daniel
- **Director:** Rod Daniel
- **Screenplay:** Len Blum
- **Cinematography:** Bill Butler
- **Editor:** William D. Gordean, Sheldon Kahn
- **Music:** Randy Edelman
- **Production design:** Lawrence Miller
- **Costume design:** April Ferry
- **Producer:** Michael C. Gross, Joe Medjuck
- **Cast:** Charles Grodin as George Newton; Bonnie Hunt as Alice Newton; Nicholle Tom as Ryce Newton; Christopher Castile as Ted Newton; Sarah Rose Karr as Emily Newton; Debi Mazar as Regina; Chris Penn as Floyd; Chris the Dog as Beethoven
- **Runtime:** 1h 29m
- **First release (France):** 14 December 1993
- **Genres:** Family, Comedy
- **Budget:** $15 million
- **Box office:** $118 million

## Where to watch in Azerbaijan

Not streaming, renting or buying in Azerbaijan at the last check.

Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, HR, HU, IE, IN, IT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SI, SK, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Beethoven* (1992), Fi1m 60: The original: one dog, one house, and Grodin losing the same argument for the first time. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/beethoven.md)
- *Lady and the Tramp* (1955), Fi1m 80: Disney’s dog romance, drawn rather than trained, and still the better love story. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/lady-and-the-tramp.md)
- *Turner & Hooch* (1989): Tom Hanks and a slobbering mastiff; the same joke, told with more discipline.
- *Red Dog* (2011): An Australian mining town adopts a kelpie; warmer and far less sticky than this.
- *Best in Show* (2000), Fi1m 84: For the parents: Christopher Guest’s dog-show comedy, where the owners are the ones misbehaving. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/best-in-show.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/beethovens-2nd