IMDb RATING
5.2/10
4.7K
YOUR RATING
Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, age eight, has misadventures and learns life lessons in this entertaining, hilarious tale of a small-town Ohio family and the daily trials of life.Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, age eight, has misadventures and learns life lessons in this entertaining, hilarious tale of a small-town Ohio family and the daily trials of life.Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, age eight, has misadventures and learns life lessons in this entertaining, hilarious tale of a small-town Ohio family and the daily trials of life.
- Awards
- 4 nominations total
Louis Martin Braga III
- Gilbert Bates
- (as Louis Braga)
Featured reviews
This is a rather unfocused movie that actually has less depth than the sitcom it's based on. For the kid who played the Beav, it seemed like they wanted all the cuteness and none of the character. The story kept throwing random bits and pieces around, mostly cliches, without tying them together except in the most superficial ways. Scenes that should have been comedic were played by the numbers. The performances were all stiff and lifeless, with the possible exception of the Beaver. There wasn't a trace of chemistry in the entire movie. Ward was presented in a very disjointed manner. June was completely irrelevant, as if the shallow well of the writers' ideas had run dry by the time they got to her. Eddie seemed all wrong. He should have been a Harry Flashman-like character, but in some scenes he came across as either a shy, nervous kid, or even as one of the Good Guys. The "villains" of the movie were only intermittently relevant to the story, and some of that seemed overly artificial and manufactured.
All in all, a dull, lifeless movie.
All in all, a dull, lifeless movie.
I grew up watching this show and I couldn't wait until the movie came out. After I watched it , the video was in my hands.
Since it was made from a tv series like The Brady Bunch , it beat them by a long shot.
It's worth watching and there's one scene that will tell you something if you pay attention to it. This is when the Beaver and his father are in the coffee cup and they're talking about ' the look '.
Eddie Haskell ( Ken Osmond ) appeared to have the right idea on his acting. Being around Ward and June he so polite but if he was with Wally or the Beaver it would be like he knew everything. Everyone else did a good job also. I liked the times whenever Lumpy would be so sloppy and eat anything in sight.
The funny thing about this movie is , when he got his bike for his birthday it brings back memories when I got one I kept dreaming about. It's a 20" red Diamond Back , alloy frame , three piece crank & double wall rim ( for all you riders to give you an idea.) That Christmas I thought it was over but sure enough at the last minute here it comes. It was 30* outside but I could care less ! I changed clothes and went for a spin. Since then it's been spotless and this was 4 years ago. I still have it.
Again as the movie , there's nothing wrong with it and enjoyable / relaxing for the whole family. There is a true example on this - DON'T let strangers ride your bike no matter what they say. Also lock it up. One time I thought mine was safe and I was gone for only 30 seconds. When I came out , it was gone but I caught them.
Since it was made from a tv series like The Brady Bunch , it beat them by a long shot.
It's worth watching and there's one scene that will tell you something if you pay attention to it. This is when the Beaver and his father are in the coffee cup and they're talking about ' the look '.
Eddie Haskell ( Ken Osmond ) appeared to have the right idea on his acting. Being around Ward and June he so polite but if he was with Wally or the Beaver it would be like he knew everything. Everyone else did a good job also. I liked the times whenever Lumpy would be so sloppy and eat anything in sight.
The funny thing about this movie is , when he got his bike for his birthday it brings back memories when I got one I kept dreaming about. It's a 20" red Diamond Back , alloy frame , three piece crank & double wall rim ( for all you riders to give you an idea.) That Christmas I thought it was over but sure enough at the last minute here it comes. It was 30* outside but I could care less ! I changed clothes and went for a spin. Since then it's been spotless and this was 4 years ago. I still have it.
Again as the movie , there's nothing wrong with it and enjoyable / relaxing for the whole family. There is a true example on this - DON'T let strangers ride your bike no matter what they say. Also lock it up. One time I thought mine was safe and I was gone for only 30 seconds. When I came out , it was gone but I caught them.
The movie focuses on the misadventures that befall Theodore "Beaver/Beav" Cleaver(Cameron Finley) and his relation to his older brother Wally (Erik von Detten), father Ward (Christopher McDonald), and mother June (Janine Turner).
1997's Leave it to Beaver is one of many TV to film adaptations the decade saw. Some adaptations such as The Addams Family, The Fugitive, Maverick, or Mission: Impossible were solid films that adapted the shows while justifying themselves as films in their own right, but others such as Car 54 Where are You?, The Beverly Hillbillies, McHale's Navy, or The Flintstones were either tired retreads content to spin their wheels or missed the mark on their series. Leave it to Beaver adapts the 1957 to 1963 television series of the same name that did have some notable milestones in TV (such as the first scene featuring a toilet in the second episode) but it portrayed a very idealized vision of the 1950s middle class that really only existed for a small subset of Americans at the time. While Leave it to Beaver has had staying power with syndication, a reunion movie, and a sequel series in the 80s, it's honestly a show that never spoke to me because it never resonated with me especially in its rather naïve in hindsight view that children's only real source of tension comes from when they misbehave or engage in mischief with the family life shown as unrealistically idealized. The show Leave it to Beaver really can't be critiqued from a modern viewpoint because it's so ingrained in that era of Father Knows Best or My Three Sons and I always gravitated towards either the more gimmicky sitcoms like I Dream of Jeanie, Bewitched or Get Smart, or the outliers like The Honeymooners that broke from the mold established by shows like Leave it to Beaver. A adaptation of Leave it to Beaver just wouldn't have worked in the 90s unless of course you reframed it in a manner similar to The Brady Bunch movies did, and of course they don't.
Leave it to Beaver 1997 sets its tone from the outset with a lot of the same cartoonish "mess" and slapstick humor that defined most post Home Alone family films of the 1990s and with Brian Levant of The Flintstones adaptation writing the script, it falls pretty much in line with the quality seen in The Flintstones with its flabby directionless narrative that feels like several condensed episodes of the TV series stapled end to end. Outside of maybe modernizing the familial dynamic to contemporary times there's not really all that much you can do with Leave it to Beaver that wasn't already being done by the numerous Home Alone inspired clones of the day. I will say that the actors are all perfectly fine with Christopher McDonald having some "okay" moments here and there when the script and direction aren't forcing him to mug, but the rest of the movie is so aggressively bouncy in its tone that it becomes pretty aggravating. There's also a bit involving Adam Zolotin as Eddie Haskell, Jr. Where he shows his stalkerish behavior over a girl he likes that the movie seems blissfully unaware of how creepy it is.
Leave it to Beaver is another bad 90s film adaptation of an old TV show. It's not particularly funny or charming with the only real laugh coming from the fact Universal signed the cast for two sequels that never ended up happening. Some of the actors try to rise above the hackneyed shenanigans and bounciness of the movie, but it's just not enough to save this banal and obnoxious film.
1997's Leave it to Beaver is one of many TV to film adaptations the decade saw. Some adaptations such as The Addams Family, The Fugitive, Maverick, or Mission: Impossible were solid films that adapted the shows while justifying themselves as films in their own right, but others such as Car 54 Where are You?, The Beverly Hillbillies, McHale's Navy, or The Flintstones were either tired retreads content to spin their wheels or missed the mark on their series. Leave it to Beaver adapts the 1957 to 1963 television series of the same name that did have some notable milestones in TV (such as the first scene featuring a toilet in the second episode) but it portrayed a very idealized vision of the 1950s middle class that really only existed for a small subset of Americans at the time. While Leave it to Beaver has had staying power with syndication, a reunion movie, and a sequel series in the 80s, it's honestly a show that never spoke to me because it never resonated with me especially in its rather naïve in hindsight view that children's only real source of tension comes from when they misbehave or engage in mischief with the family life shown as unrealistically idealized. The show Leave it to Beaver really can't be critiqued from a modern viewpoint because it's so ingrained in that era of Father Knows Best or My Three Sons and I always gravitated towards either the more gimmicky sitcoms like I Dream of Jeanie, Bewitched or Get Smart, or the outliers like The Honeymooners that broke from the mold established by shows like Leave it to Beaver. A adaptation of Leave it to Beaver just wouldn't have worked in the 90s unless of course you reframed it in a manner similar to The Brady Bunch movies did, and of course they don't.
Leave it to Beaver 1997 sets its tone from the outset with a lot of the same cartoonish "mess" and slapstick humor that defined most post Home Alone family films of the 1990s and with Brian Levant of The Flintstones adaptation writing the script, it falls pretty much in line with the quality seen in The Flintstones with its flabby directionless narrative that feels like several condensed episodes of the TV series stapled end to end. Outside of maybe modernizing the familial dynamic to contemporary times there's not really all that much you can do with Leave it to Beaver that wasn't already being done by the numerous Home Alone inspired clones of the day. I will say that the actors are all perfectly fine with Christopher McDonald having some "okay" moments here and there when the script and direction aren't forcing him to mug, but the rest of the movie is so aggressively bouncy in its tone that it becomes pretty aggravating. There's also a bit involving Adam Zolotin as Eddie Haskell, Jr. Where he shows his stalkerish behavior over a girl he likes that the movie seems blissfully unaware of how creepy it is.
Leave it to Beaver is another bad 90s film adaptation of an old TV show. It's not particularly funny or charming with the only real laugh coming from the fact Universal signed the cast for two sequels that never ended up happening. Some of the actors try to rise above the hackneyed shenanigans and bounciness of the movie, but it's just not enough to save this banal and obnoxious film.
As weird as this may sound it's true. I just end up watching LEAVE IT TO BEAVER every time it's on. Even though it's pretty dumb, there's just a charm the film has that I can't help but notice every time it's on the Disney channel. It's fun for the whole family, and worth seeing. I'm not sure why though. 3/5 stars
Throughout watching practically this entire movie, I had a stupid grin on my face. That's the kind of film this is.
It's cheesy, sentimental, substandard, and predictable. . . . and I enjoyed it.
Before watching it, I had never seen an episode of the classic sitcom ''Leave it to Beaver'', from which this movie is based, but I was acquainted enough with the material to expect some Dennis the Menace type antics. And that's what I got.
It's hard to figure out if the movie is winking at us; it just seems so cheerfully absurd!
It basically follows the story of Beaver, a trouble-prone young boy, and his adventures and misadventures. The film's setting is in a suburban neighbourhood stuck somewhere between 1950 and 1990.
Although I was really entertained, this movie's definitely not very good.
But if you want a heartwarming and gentle film that's very ridiculous, you might want to check this one out.
It's cheesy, sentimental, substandard, and predictable. . . . and I enjoyed it.
Before watching it, I had never seen an episode of the classic sitcom ''Leave it to Beaver'', from which this movie is based, but I was acquainted enough with the material to expect some Dennis the Menace type antics. And that's what I got.
It's hard to figure out if the movie is winking at us; it just seems so cheerfully absurd!
It basically follows the story of Beaver, a trouble-prone young boy, and his adventures and misadventures. The film's setting is in a suburban neighbourhood stuck somewhere between 1950 and 1990.
Although I was really entertained, this movie's definitely not very good.
But if you want a heartwarming and gentle film that's very ridiculous, you might want to check this one out.
Did you know
- TriviaAfter Brian Levant, Richard Correll and Tony Dow were turned down as possible directors by the studio, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers declined to appear in cameo roles.
- GoofsWhen Larry and Beaver are eating cookies at a café, Larry asks Beaver if he wants the cookies. Larry picks them up, but when they leave, the cookies are back on the table.
- Quotes
Eddie Haskell Jr.: You looked as though you just walked out the runway.
June Cleaver: Eddie?
Eddie Haskell Jr.: Yes Mrs. Cleaver?
June Cleaver: Cut the crap.
- Crazy creditsMuch like Jerry Mathers in the original show, Cameron Finley in the opening credits is credited as "The Beaver".
- How long is Leave It to Beaver?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Beaver le gaffeur
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $15,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $10,925,060
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,252,450
- Aug 24, 1997
- Gross worldwide
- $10,925,060
- Runtime1 hour 24 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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By what name was Petit poucet l'espiègle (1997) officially released in India in English?
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