Rent The Amazing Burping Pig (2016)

The Amazing Burping Pig (aka Arlo: The Burping Pig / Toby the Burping Pig) review by Adrijan Arsovski - Cinema Paradiso

The Amazing Burping Pig, despite having one of the most ridiculous titles ever conjured up for modern cinema, is a family-friendly story about a girl and her small pig. The film is predictable, sprinkled with your stereotypical characters all around, but a fun ride nonetheless. To this extent, The Amazing Burping Pig is a fun ride suitable for the whole family, and more.

The film follows 7-year-old Talia Rose (played by Lindsey Blanchard), as she and her family move to a new neighborhood in a new house. There, everything is new and everyone acts jittery all of the time, as the family is uncertain about what awaits them in the near future. On top of that, Talia’s sisters are not especially helpful to her and aren’t very skilled in allowing her to showcase her feelings as she should. However, when Talia finds a smart, talking piglet in her backyard named Arlo (voiced by Drake Bell) – things start to change for the better. However, there is one little problem iterated in Talia’s dad (played by Joey Lawrence), who has never agreed to keeping a pet. If it wasn’t clear that he was the “made up” antagonist of the film, he’s also a dentist. To make matters even worse, Arlo has a slight discomfort that makes him burp non-stop.

These are the ground rules of the film’s plot, which unfortunately, don’t go anywhere beyond what’s already put in the sentences above.

Competence-wise, The Amazing Burping Pig is very amateurishly made, and this comes as a surprise to no one since the film is operating on a very low budget. In regards to fleshing out characters and building up worlds, the film doesn’t even come close of moving past stereotypical portrayals and clichés (as much as I hate to use that word). Still, The Amazing Burping Pig has that clumsy charm which would appeal to young children by the dozen. Which is fine, I guess.

In light of the characters, there is one saving grace as embodied through talented Lindsey Blanchard (who single-handedly saves the movie from the other wooden performances of the rest of the cast). The young actress even manages to make a line like "a real friend likes you for being you" sound passable.

All things considered, The Amazing Burping Pig has a little something for everyone: adults can teach their kids about bullying and how it shapes a person and societies as a whole; dads can find themselves as the perennial antagonists of everything ever made in existence; Moms can scold their kids as always (for the better); and kids can witness the mesmerizing spectacle that is Arlo the burping pig.