Publication Date: 09-20-2026

Rover Dangerfield (1991) review

Dir. James L. George and Bob Seely

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★

While listlessly watching Family Guy reruns in my Des Moines hotel room last weekend, Brian and Stewie came across Rover Dangerfield in one of the episodes. A quick YouTube search showed me the movie itself was free to watch on the site. I knew I had a blind-spot to address the next morning before Catherine and I spent the afternoon at GalaxyCon.

A recurring punchline in the otherwise stellar career of comedian/actor Rodney Dangerfield, Rover Dangerfield dares ask the question: what would it be like if the wise-cracking, bug-eyed comic’s personality was transferred to a dog in the squeakiest-of-clean animated movies? That wasn’t always the plan. Initially, this Rover was supposed to be coarse enough to earn an R-rating, ala Ralph Bakshi’s Fritz the Cat. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. cowardly decided to turn their paltry investment they intended to release in merely a handful of theaters into something even easier-to-miss, despite the presence of Rodney Dangerfield.

The film’s soft, storybook animation style recalls Don Bluth (An American Tail, The Secret of NIMH) significantly enough that you could swear he was involved in some way. Not the case. However, Jeff Smith, the cartoonist behind Bone, a self-published series of graphic novels I devoured as a young boy, was one of the key frame animators on the film. I wish I could say there were some similarities. That said, I laughed and smiled at Rover Dangerfield to issue anything other than a mild recommendation, and at less than 70 minutes long, you practically watch time melt with how quickly this little fluttering goes by.

This intermittently hilarious and consistently entertainment romp revolves around the titular dog (voiced by Dangerfield), who yuks up his life as a free-roaming vagabond in Las Vegas. He gambles for bones, he parties with strays, and cuddles up to his showgirl owner, Connie (Shawn Southwick). The hound’s carefree existence comes to an end when Connie’s deadbeat boyfriend (Sal Landi) literally throws Rover over the Hoover Dam. He survives the plunge, is rescued by some fishermen, and ends up on a family farm run by Cal (Gregg Berger) and his young son, Danny (Dana Hill). If not for Danny, Cal would’ve likely taken Rover behind the woodshed or sold him on-site. So, Rover attempts to adjust to life on the farm with a cohort of other animals, including the beautiful Collie named Daisy (Susan Boyd).

Of course, Rover Dangerfield is a musical, but either due to budgetary constraints or a lack of ambition on the part of the castrated writers, all the songs are performed by Dangerfield. Most are background noise, I must say, but there is one gem: “I’ll Never Do It on a Christmas Tree,” in which Rover assures Daisy that he’ll never do his business on a Christmas tree. Dangerfield’s irreverent personality is given some room to breathe with that ditty.

Also packed into this briskly paced romp, which plays more like a TV special than a feature, is a great bit involving Rover trying to chase down a turkey out of retribution. The turkey’s voice? Tress MacNeille, of course. The only disappointment is the film never really finds the kind of showy, flashy zeal it does when the story shifts from Vegas to the farm. Vegas is such a fun atmosphere even when captured in this rounded, storybook-style animation. Tis pity this is another fish-out-of-water movie.

Despite the abrupt shift from an adult tone to a kid-friendly one, Dangerfield retains the film’s lone screenwriting credit, showing he must’ve been game to try and appeal to tykes. Rover Dangerfield came long after Caddyshack and Ea$y Money, but it still predated Dangerfield’s dark turn as an abusive father in Natural Born Killers. As part of a career pivot for the comedian, this is as inoffensive as it gets, and if you’re in the same boat I found myself last weekend, it does make for some cozy hotel viewing.

Voiced by: Rodney Dangerfield, Susan Boyd, Ronnie Schell, Dana Hill, Gregg Berger, Shawn Southwick, Sal Landi, and Tress MacNeille. Directed by: James L. George and Bob Seeley.