Editing Brian Levant (section)

==Early life and career==
Born in [[Highland Park, Illinois]] to a [[Jewish]] family, Levant started his career in 1976 as a writer for the TV series  ''[[Happy Days]]''. He also wrote for, among other TV shows, ''[[The Jeffersons]],'' ''[[Mork & Mindy]]'' and ''[[Still the Beaver]].''

He is best known for directing the films ''[[Beethoven (film)|Beethoven]]'',<ref name=NYT/> ''[[The Flintstones (film)|The Flintstones]]'' and its 2000 prequel ''[[The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas]]'', ''[[Jingle All the Way]]'', ''[[Snow Dogs]]'' and ''[[Are We There Yet? (film)|Are We There Yet?]]''.<ref name=NYT/>

Though his work is generally disliked by film critics,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2010-01-15-1001140572-story.html|title='Spy Next Door' reflects on its director |last=Liebenson|first=Donald|date=January 15, 2010|publisher=[[Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=September 30, 2019}}</ref> Levant has responded to the criticism with, "I'm making movies for the audience that I was when I was sitting at home watching ''[[Garfield Goose and Friends|Garfield Goose]]'' and ''[[The Three Stooges]]'' on [[WGN-TV|WGN]]...To read those reviews is an act of self-flagellation, but reviews be damned when you're at [[Blockbuster LLC|Blockbuster]], and you're seeing family after family grab one of your movies off the shelf on a Friday night. I can't tell you how many times I've seen that."<ref name=":0" />

Levant is a major collector of 20th century toys and pop culture memorabilia. His collection is displayed in a 2022 book, ''My Life and Toys''.<ref>{{cite web|website=Animation Magazine|url=https://www.animationmagazine.net/2022/09/brian-levant-and-the-beautiful-madness-of-collecting-toys-and-memorabilia/|first=Ramin|last=Zahed|date=September 30, 2022|accessdate=December 17, 2022|title=Brian Levant and the Beautiful Madness of Collecting Toon Toys & Memorabilia}}</ref>