A Golden Christmas 3

First of all, this is not about a Naval Officer. The man is a PO2, or Petty Officer Second Class. and he is also not as he claimed, a Navagation Specialist. He is a Operations Specialist. 2nd Class. OS2. Just had to get that part correct.

It was an impossible task. Director Michael Fiefer was asked to helm a follow-up to the greatest and most heart-warming Christmas classic of the modern era. Of course, I am speaking of the perplexingly straight- to-DVD holiday standard Golden Christmas 2.

Compared to that mighty standard, perhaps the most technically perfect script ever committed to celluloid, and despite the remarkable performance of Orson Bean as "Mr. Cole," Golden Christmas franchise fans around the world are today scratching their heads in a communal sigh of "hmm?!"

Mark Famiglietti, who plays "Roger," was hopelessly miscast, for starters. If I never see another Golden Retriever-centric Christmas film with Mark Famiglietti again, that would be just peachers, IMHO.

And my second and final complaint is that there just aren't enough dogs in this film. Compared to a motion picture like Hotel for Dogs, which promised at least as much hotel as dog representation but far over- delivered on the latter, I have to say that there is just too much Christmas in this film, not enough Golden. KNOW WHAT I MEAN?

Would not watch again.

This is not an Academy Award winner. But it is a lovely movie to watch when you want something happy and cheerful. Be done with all the gore on TV. Watch something that leaves you with a wonderful feeling and smiling. Thank you thank you thank you. I have to admit though that I saw it as love for Christmas on Hallmark. Yes the sailor's uniform gave me a start because I thought it was wrong and it was, but who really cares. Hollywood gets a lot wrong. Smile and have fun

The first 'A Golden Christmas' was rather average, with enough good things but significantly unbalanced by a truly over-the-top obnoxious lead character and actress. The second was an improvement and improved on a lot of things. So while expectations were not massive for 'A Golden Christmas 3', as sequels do have a variable reputations (often the third films in trilogies), there were hopes, especially as there are people saying it's the best of the three.

After seeing 'A Golden Christmas 3', actually do personally disagree with it being the best of the series. For me the second is the best, but this is a quite a close second best. Didn't love it, but certainly didn't hate it. Feelings were instead mixed to positive, with a lot of the good things seen in the first two films seen and like the second film it doesn't have the disadvantage of an overly negative female lead unbalancing the film. Just wish it could have been better.

Certainly 'A Golden Christmas 3' has good things. It is pleasant looking, especially the scenery inside and particularly out. The music generally doesn't sound cheap or over-bearing, and was clearly done by someone that knew what they were writing music for. The two leads are very engaging, with Nikki DeLoach particularly giving it her all. Their characters are neither too perfect and the negative character traits are not over-exaggerated.

Supporting cast generally were above average, with the roles not feeling overacted or underplayed. Also didn't feel annoyed by most of the characters and the dogs are adorable. There are enough cute and charming moments here and the chemistry had a warmth.

However, there are things that could have been done a lot better. Some of the script is very cheesy, especially in the early stretches which are also too slight in momentum. Do agree that there are too many musical montages that were generally not necessary and randomly placed.

Likewise with that the ex-boyfriend character is an overused stereotype that is very annoying and the only character that has negative characteristics that are overwritten. The story is very predictable and not always focused and the central relationship while charming and natural was too rushed in development.

In conclusion, slightly above average but not much mind-blowing here. 5.5/10.

Goldens here, Goldens there, Goldens everywhere.

This is a family friendly film with obvious appeal to young ages.

The story was all over the place. There is very little tension beyond the pending move to NYC by the leading lady. There are no real surprises. There's very little in the movie to do with Christmas.

There are too many musical montages. The very end of the movie is a nearly 8 minute roll interrupted by only two brief segments of conversation. Is that perhaps because the director didn't trust the actors? I wasn't impressed with any of the acting, but that could easily have been the dialogue which was bland and often didn't make sense. I was especially disappointed with Nikki Deloach who has since had many leading roles in movies like this, some of which included some great scenes having deep emotional content. In this movie, I thought she tried to hard.

The stalker ex-boyfriend is too annoying. It's troubling to see movies like this insert characters who do not understand that no is no and get away with it for far too long. After the last such scene, the ex goes off and trashes the leading lady with a superior attitude that something is wrong with her because she didn't worship him.