Christmas Unleashed

Other than the charming Vanessa Lachey and a cute Doggie, this entry in the Hallmark sweepstakes has nothing much else to recommend it. Big City girl comes home to her small town for Christmas with her beloved pooch that she kind of co-owned with her hunky ex-boyfriend. The boyfriend is the local vet, who also owns a mountain top property which is also a rescue facillity. He is also wealthy due to he invented a revolutionary wheelchair for dogs. My God, this guy is fictionally perfect. Christopher Russell plays the boyfriend and he is so handsome he looks like he stepped out of the pages of a Vanity Fair Men's Cologne ad. Unfortunately his mesmerizing looks are not matched by his acting talent. His expression never changes. The only thing I see behind his eyes is bemusement. "Where am I? What am I doing?"

The story is boring and repetitive as the dog leads the two to place after place that were milestones in their courtship in an effort to reunite them. Also cheering for the happy reunion is the vet's annoying mother (let's follow them!) and Vanessa's Nana. Nana is the only other bright spot in this effort. I love the actress who plays her. She never fails impress.

It was okay until the introduced the 2 married men. I guess Lifetime feels they need to include homosexuals in all their Christmas movies now.

Skip this one.

Loved all of the dogs! It was an ok Christmas movie.

The movie is a retelling of the relationship of Max and Becca (and Henry) from when they met until they parted years ago. It is told with flashback scenes and montages. In between they search for Henry who isn't lost so much as deliberately leading them around to bring them together. Smart dog, huh? When the story isn't doing one of those two things, then Max and Becca are pining together over their lost past. The story doesn't have any surprises, and little tension, but it is told nicely.

The leads have good chemistry. They dominate the screen time which means the movie is more about relationship than story. The acting is mostly good.

BTW: why do so many reviewers assume all Christmas romance movies are Hallmark? The Lifetime logo is all over the movie and the promo photo.

With the amount of stress and uncertainty that is going in the world right now (COVID19), this was a nice film to watch...even in April. It's what I would consider a fluffy movie. No major drama, no nudity and no swearing. It's a film where it shows a community really taking care of each other and loving each other. Sweet film! Side note: Someone had mentioned in their review that the movie showed two married men and because of that, it was not a family friendly movie. I can attest that it does show a lot of married couples who love each other so, if you're cool with that, great! Again, sweet film.