The 12 Dogs of Christmas

Every year there are several movies that pop up in stores that have the appearance of being quality family entertainment. Generally, most of them are disappointing at best. To my surprise, "The 12 Dogs of Christmas" isn't among the disappointments, though it does have its share of flaws.

Young Emma's father leaves her with her aunt in a small town that has just outlawed dogs. In an act of heroism, she rescues a puppy from the town's maniacal dogcatcher, and finds that she has a deep-rooted for canines. Along the way, she befriends the town's supposedly crazy "dog lady" and her son, as well as the local coach, a Russian dog-sledder and her initially angry aunt. In the process, she also makes enemies of the mean-spirited dogcatcher and his brother, the town's mayor. Yes, some of the characters are cookie-cutter, and the results are more than predictable. However, the movie uses the characters' -- and the viewers' -- love for dogs to bring about some very warm and pleasant results.

After viewing, we realized we enjoyed this movie enough to add this DVD to our holiday collection. I recommend it in the best spirit of a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This was the worst movie I've seen since the Pokiman films (which I was forced to go to by my kids). The script was terrible. In summary, a little girl is sent to live with a woman who hates her father's guts (but still lets her stay) and teaches a town to love dogs by putting on a play with dogs. Huh? I actually felt bad for the actors having to say these lines (especially the guy who played the coach who could only use sports terms with the kids). What was the deal with the guy who drove the motorcycle for the dog catcher? And why is it when the girl tries to get away from the dog catcher, she literally WALKS past him, and he has to run and chase her. This is a good alternative to "Full House" reruns to keep your kids busy for 90 minutes. Otherwise, save your money.

Where's the pug? Being a pug owner, when I saw the pug on the box cover I HAD to buy the movie. Imagine my disappointment when there is no pug in the show at all.

Oh, well. After getting over that, I really did enjoy the movie. Sure, it was a little predictable but it was charming enough to overlook that point. The dogs are cute, though I did wish that we could have seen a little more of them. The kids were cute and did a good job with their parts. I did enjoy watching the coach try to get the Christmas pageant together.

All in all, it's a fun, fluff family movie and it was an enjoyable way to pass some time

The title of this movie is very inviting for one to come up with a negative title for a review. I'll leave that for anyone else and just tackle the major flaws of "The 12 Dogs of Christmas". The idea for the plot comes from a 1998 32-page children's book of the same title by Emma Kragen. So, the screenplay would pretty much be an original story with characters not included or barely sketched in the book. And, this screenplay is very weak. But for a couple of very odd characters along with a couple more who are very hammy, this movie would be very dull. Yet, combined with very wooden or forced acting by most of the cast, it soon makes this video film boring.

It's not at all hard to get the conclusion, so one looks for and waits for some good performances in a good story to get to the end. But this film made for video release just falls flat all around. While there may be some sentimental heartstrings for people who love dogs, for this reviewer who likes and has had dogs, this picture just doesn't even present much by way of cuddly, warm, or fuzzy attachments to dogs.

With the characters in this film - notably Aunt Delores, Dogcatcher Doyle and Mayor Doyle, it struck me that the producers may have been trying to imitate the early Disney comedies with Fred MacMurray - "The Shaggy Dog" of 1959 or "The Absent-Minded Professor" of 1961. But most of the comedy turns out to be overly hammy acting rather than any real humor. The producers couldn't seem to make up their minds - did they want a comedy, or a drama, or a combination? With the comedy pretty much limited to some very hammy personas, what drama there may have been hoped for never gets developed. The goofy behavior of the dogcatcher and his accomplice never leads to any mistreatment or abuse of the dogs, and most of the time when one sees dogs, they are wagging their tales, trying to lick someone's hand or just lying down or standing and looking at people.

There is one instance of a serious matter that the film might have delved into a bit more for dramatic effect, but that was even glossed over quickly. That was the dogcatcher selling dogs from the pound for dog fights. The last aspect that shows this film to be below what in the days of the studios would have been a "B" film, is the acting. The lead character, Emma O'Conner could have been replaced by a real puppet on strings, her acting is so wooden. She is mostly expressionless and lifeless throughout the film, having most often a look with just a slight smile or upturn of her mouth.

Susan Wood as Cathy Stevens is just fair when she, too, doesn't seem wooden. Eric Lutes as Coach Cullimore has a little bit of a nutty professor persona, neither serious nor funny, but not quite believable as a coach and teacher. The four hammy characters aren't always that way. The rest of the time they, too seem wooden, or forced. The one character who passes in this regard is Richard Riehle aa Mayor Nobel Doyle, and that's because he's the only recognizable member of this cast who has played some other roles as similar characters, and had more than 400 acting credits before 2020. About the only role that showed some able acting was that of the boy, Mike Steven, played by Adam Hick.

Some reviewers have said this film is dreadful, and after waiting impatiently for it to end, I has some of the same sense. But I give it three stars for the production effort in the set, costumes and scenery that did give it a feel of the early 1930s during the Great Depression.

'The 12 Dogs of Christmas' is nothing amazing, one that will be forgotten, but it's relatively decent - given it's a low standard festive film.

The plot is the standout part, although they don't quite nail the story as much as they could've; the ending really dragged out. Acting is OK, certainly better than a lot of its counterparts.