Beethoven (film) Jones as Dr. Herman Varnick. It features music composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Principal photography began on May 1, 1991, in Los Angeles, California. A group of puppies are stolen from a pet store by two thieves. A St. Bernard escapes and sneaks into the Newtons' home. The workaholic father, George Newton, doesn't want the responsibility of owning a dog, but his wife, Alice, and their children, Ryce, Ted and Emily, convince him. When Emily plays a portion of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony on the piano, he barks along and they name him Beethoven. Beethoven helps the children overcome
Beethoven (film) of 4.7/10. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave Beethoven a grade A. Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun Times" gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, writing in his review, "this is not the sort of entertainment I scour the movie pages for, hoping desperately for a new film about a cute dog. Nor did I find anything particularly new in ""Beethoven"", although I concede that the filmmakers secured an admirable dog for the title role, and that Charles Grodin, who is almost always amusing, has what fun can be had playing the grumpy dad." The film grossed $57,114,049 in