Beethoven's 4th (film)

For the symphony, see Symphony No. 4 (Beethoven).

Beethoven's 4th
DVD cover
Directed by	David M. Evans
Starring	Judge Reinhold Julia Sweeney
Release date	December 31, 2001
Running time	93 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Beethoven's 4th is the third sequel to the 1992 film, Beethoven and is the fourth installment in the Beethoven film series. It was released on December 4, 2001.

Plot

The movie starts with a dad checking on his two kids before school. Their family includes a girl (Sara), a boy (Brennan), an artist father (Richard), and a campaigning mother (Beth), and a repulsive dog named Beethoven, who they are keeping for a relative family. The children love Beethoven, but their parents don't, and want to get rid of him, especially after Beethoven barfs all over Beth. So the children begin taking the dog to Obedience Training led by a former army sergeant. Brennan falls in love with a girl (Hayley), while Beethoven literally destroys the obstacle course in one day. To top it all off Beethoven hits the army sergeant in the crotch with a lease causing to kneel over in pain.

Meanwhile, the rich Sedgwig family owns a pampered pup that looks exactly like Beethoven, named Michealangelo. Michealangelo and young Madison Sedwig are friends, but busy Mr. and Mrs. Sedgwig are always neglecting her. In fact, Mr. Sedwig is the only one who seems to try to play with her. Beethoven, meanwhile, runs after a loose hot dog cart, and ends up on a merry-go-round. Michealangelo has gotten loose and is now on the same merry-go-round. He is mistaken for Beethoven and taken home by Brennan and Sara. The real Beethoven is mistaken for Michealangelo, and grabbed by Simmons, the Sedwig family butler and taken to their mansion.

Meanwhile, Sara is surprised when Michealangelo wipes his feet on the welcome mat and folds the napkins with his teeth at dinner. The Sedwigs notice the change in "their dog" too, when he bolts Simmons to the ground to get a piece of turkey. Then, at night, Beethoven hears Madison whimpering because of a bad dream, and comforts her. At the next obedience class, Michealangelo leaves everyone in astonishment, by finishing the entire new obstacle course, while the sergeant is announcing about the course.

Meanwhile, Beethoven ruins a dinner party, when Nigel tries to kidnap him. A therapist points out to Mrs. Sedwig that the reason "Michealangelo" is acting this way is because he is the first one exhibiting "symptoms". The Therapist suggests that it may be because Mrs. Sedwig doesn't care about anyone but herself. Meanwhile, Mr. Newton is concerned about "Beethoven", and starts acting out to get "Beethoven" to act out again too. He drinks toilet water, chases the mailman, etc. Michealangelo ends up catching on, and turns into a perfect clone of Beethoven.

Meanwhile, the Sedwig family start playing fetch and swimming with Beethoven. But as the Sedwigs and Beethoven are hiking, Nigel (who turns out to be Simmons' sidekick) kidnaps Beethoven and locks him in a warehouse, for a ransom of $250,000. But Beethoven breaks out and secretly switches places with Michealangelo at the obedience graduation. The real Michealangelo is found by the Sedwigs, and Simmons and Nigel are put in jail. The real Beethoven is found by the Newtons family, and he graduates. The Sedwigs and Newtons, though, never find out about the switching of Beethoven and Michealangelo.

Cast

• Judge Reinhold as Richard Newton
• Julia Sweeney as Beth Newton
• Joe Pichler as Brennan Newton
• Michaela Gallo as Sara Newton
• Kaleigh Krish as Madison Sedgewick
• Matt McCoy as Reginald Sedgewick
• Veanne Cox as Martha Sedgewick
• Mark Lindsay Chapman as Johnnie Simmons
• Nick Meaney as Nigel Bigalow
• Natalie Marston as Hayley (as Natalie Elizabeth Marston)
• Art LaFleur as Sergeant Rutledge
• June Lu as Mrs. Florence Rutledge

External links

• Beethoven's 4th at IMDb