Principal photography began on June 10, 2019, in New York City [24] [25] [26] [27] and wrapped on August 23, 2019, after 55 days of shooting.

In June 2019, Cleese, Guillory, Wang, Grier, Rosie Perez, Keith Ewell, Bear Allen-Blaine and Lynn Cohen joined the cast. It was originally scheduled to be released November 13, 2020, before being delayed to November 5, 2021 [35] [36] due to the COVID-19 pandemic.When the chip identifies Emily as Clifford's rightful owner, the chief informs Tieran that he will be fined for lying to them and wasting police resources.

On September 25, 2017, it was reported that Walt Becker had been hired to direct from a script being re-written by Ellen Rapoport, and from the original written by Justin Malen, which would be produced by Forte through her Silvertongue Films banner.

The film was also dedicated to Richard Robinson, the former CEO of Scholastic Corporation, who died on June 5, 2021. Jack Whitehall, 'Big Little Lies' Actress to Star in 'Clifford, the Big Red Dog' Adaptation (Exclusive)". Horatio Sanz as Raul, a bodega employee who severed his arm while working and now wears a prosthetic. Prior to that, Universal Pictures initially slated the then-unproduced film for April 8, 2016, and then pushed back to December 31, 2016.

In New York City, Emily Elizabeth Howard, a 12-year-old middle school student who lives with her English mother, Maggie, is regularly bullied by a popular girl at school named Florence, but finds comfort in her only new friend Owen Yu. All three later take shelter in Owen's lavish apartment, where Casey tells his niece that Clifford can stay with her, provided they locate Bridwell and have him shrink the dog down to his original size.Emily and Casey are evicted from their apartment by Packard (who Zac also tipped off) and pursued by the cops and Lyfegro henchmen after the former refuses the businessman's bribe. Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote: " Clifford the Big Red Dog becomes a rowdy chase film-- as agreeable as Clifford himself, as simultaneously cute and in-your-face and as genially random in its ability to create chaos. On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". But when an adorable red puppy named Clifford wheedles his way into her life, suddenly everything becomes a whole lot brighter. He, Emily, and Packard paint a large mural of Clifford which resembles his hand-drawn counterpart, implying that Casey's new job will be authoring and illustrating fictional books about Clifford.