myspecialparadise
They'd have to tie me down, clamp my eyes open, and I would still avert my eyes from this loser. Totally boring, and, frankly, I am sick to death of seeing Dean Cain as the bad guy. He just doesn't suit the part. Unfortunately, he did suit the part of that creep that killed Stacey Peterson and her unborn child ... which pretty much destroyed his career.The acting is OK, when thinking about the other parts ... but the movie is, as already mentioned, a rip-off of Home Alone, and not even a good rip-off. And, actually, the dog was not that great either. So, walk away and find something better to do with your time. Unless you like being bored. Bottom line is ... nothing special here excepting for the holiday decorations, and one other part mentioned below ... and whom among us want to watch a movie just to see a few good decoration?Now, let us get to the part that infuriated me ... which is the part played by Elisa Donovan ... shame, shame! Why any woman would consider taking a part, such as this one, where a woman towers over the man, and basically treats him like a child ... well, shame, shame. However, seeing Adrienne Barbeau, as the cat lady, tickled me greatly. Adrienne usually plays the Hard Hearted Hanna roles, and to see her in this role was a lovely Christmas Surprise. We can use seeing more of her in the future ... she has been greatly missed!
brandon91616
The Dog Who Saved Christmas is a shamelessly derivative, predictable Christmas movie that really can't help but feel like the low-budget, made-for-TV movie that it is. It's a complete rip-off of other, and not to mention BETTER, Christmas movies. A lack of a joyous Christmas atmosphere is a real buzzkill and the cringe-worthy physical gags only lessen the fun.Although this review contains some major spoilers, I suggest you just read on. There's no reason for you to actually watch this (Willingly, that is).After Zeus, a former police-dog, loses his bark, he's sent to the pound (for reasons that are beyond me..) One day, he is adopted by George, a man in need of the security of a burly watch-dog with an intimidating bark. Of course, once he finds out that the dog is incapable of barking, him and his wife ponder taking him back to the pound. Before taking him back, they go to visit grandma for Christmas, and leave Zeus at home. As soon as they leave, two wacky, cartoonish villains break in and attempt to loot the house (for decorations, apparently). This is the perfect opportunity for Zeus to prove himself as a good watch dog. He sets up multiple booby traps and after about a half hour of the robbers goofing off and getting their ass handed to them by a dog, they are ultimately defeated. If you're thinking that this sounds an awful lot like Home Alone, but with a dog, you're right. The last half of the movie is an obvious rip-off and the writers made no attempt to hide it. In the end, the dog gets his bark back and the family decides to keep him. I bet you didn't see that one coming, did you? The stars of the film are people you've probably never heard of. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but when the acting is this terrible, it's probably best that it stays that way. Gary Valentine plays the role of George. His appearance, voice, and acting style are fairly similar to that of Kevin James, who I'm personally not a fan of, but if you are, you'll probably enjoy Valentine as well. The rest of the family's acting is subpar. The two robbers are probably the worst actors in the show. Their goofiness is too unbelievable and over-the-top.The script was terrible. With lines like "There better not be a dog in there! You know how I feel about dogs! I get panic attacks", it was far too literal and left nothing to the imagination. In fact, it kind of insults the viewer's intelligence. The style of humour is mostly slapstick physical gags with a few talking toilets and gassy fat guys mixed in. Although this doesn't personally tickle my funny-bone, I do realize that a sense of humour is subjective and everybody has different preferences. If this is your sense of humour, you're in for a blast; but if not, you'll hate this movie.The Dog Who Saved Christmas was a poor effort in basically every aspect. Horrendous acting, scripts, and humour detract from the overall quality, lowering the bar for the standards of made-for-TV movies. I really wouldn't recommend this to anyone, except people who are still in their diaper days.And you know what the sad thing is? Citizen Kane was on the other channel at the exact same time, but my cousins insisted on torturing me with The Dog Who Saved Christmas instead. :(
Meaghan Edwards
The Dog That Saved Christmas is not a great movie by any stretch -- I didn't go into this one with high expectations -- but it did have its cute moments despite the cheese galore. Mostly it was an upbeat Christmas special, up until the mother gave up on poor Zeus for his lack of barking and misbehaviour. The acting was alright, better than I thought it would be. Due to its small budget there were no CGI effects for the talking animals, but I let this pass. Don't expect much more than fluff; there was plenty of cheese galore throughout the movie; basically it's a Home Alone with a cute dog. I have to say though, I do like the message that rescued dogs can be heroes!
David Brailsford
I wish I had. This movie is mindless drivel and toilet humor. It doesn't even deliver a very cute dog, and the main part of the movie is a second rate rip off of Home Alone. It felt like most of the actors didn't even care, and I can't say blame them. The mother character in the film seemed incapable of showing any real powerful emotion and came across as a heartless ice queen. A big question I had is, if the wife wanted an alarm, why couldn't they still keep the dog? Also if she was so convinced the dog was incapable of preventing a break in why would she let them leave it alone in the house on Christmas day! The mice are another annoyance, there pointless characters annoyingly voiced and there humor won't make anyone laugh over the age of 6. Still worse is the fact that there are objectionable scenes in the film for smaller children (theres a scene in the film where the fat criminal is talking about hurting the dog). Anyway I can think of no good reason to watch this as there are many good Christmas movies and even some other doggy ones out there, this one is better left unwatched.