Christmas Unleashed

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.

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.

Loved it. From beginning to end. Loved Vanessa. Total charming.

Lifetime's Christmas films are very inconsistent. There are some surprisingly good ones, where regardless of their predictability they manage to succeed in being light-hearted, charming and undemanding fun. But also some failures (though not often as bad as the worst of Hallmark), where the characters are not likeable, everything is forced and shallow with implausibility too in some of the worst cases, the acting and writing being weak and basically with just nothing to them.

'Christmas Unleashed' is neither one of the surprisingly good Lifetime Christmas films or one of the failures in my view, though that is not going to be the feelings of all that like or dislike it more than me. If anything it's in the middle of the pack category, being watchable with nothing really to be offended by, it's cute and there are a fair share of good things. While also not having an awful lot that is exceptional, and generally 'Christmas Unleashed' needed a stronger story and a different male lead to work a lot better than it did.

There are quite a number of pluses. It's nicely shot with some nice picturesque scenery. Vanessa Lachey struck me as very likeable and had a lot of charm about her. The other cast standout is an amusing Jayne Eastwood, who brings some welcome levity to the film. The dog is absolutely adorable.

Furthermore, there are moments that do warm the heart and are charming. The music doesn't etch in the memory unforgettably, but it is pleasant and fits at least.

Unfortunately, there were also quite a number of minuses in 'Christmas Unleashed'. Christopher Russell doesn't look comfortable in the male lead role and doesn't seem sure of what he was doing or what was going on. He and Lachey's chemistry is non-existent but it lacked spark. The supporting characters are very sketchy and only Eastwood stands out out of the supporting performances.

Writing sounded rather forced and the flow doesn't feel smooth enough, it can be very cheesy and the more sentimental moments are close to mawkish. The story is very thin, lacks freshness and tends to feel very stretched out, so the film can feel rather dull and padded. It's also rather repetitive and some things are either underdeveloped or completely forgotten about.

Overall, not awful. Not great. Just okay-ish. 5/10

A rekindling of an old romance makes a typical story with bit of a dog thing thrown in. He is a vet and she is a lawyer who moved away. The pushy family is quite funny. They fall in love again as they look for her missing dog.

There is some diversity included in this holiday movie here. The lead actress Vanessa Lachey is half Filipino. There is a same sex couple in town.