A Dog Named Christmas (2009) Bruce Greenwood, Linda Emond, Noel Fisher, Ken Pogue, Carrie Ruscheinsky Movie Review

A Dog Named Christmas (2009)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Bruce Greenwood in A Dog Named Christmas (2009)

Christmas is for Life

George McCray (Bruce Greenwood) is a Vietnam vet, a farmer and a husband but he is also the proud father of Todd (Noel Fisher) who as he likes to say has "his own way of thinking about things". Unlike George and his wife Mary's (Linda Emond) other children Todd still lives at home and when he isn't helping his father he is rescuing injured animals which he seems to have a knack of caring for. With the local animal shelter looking for people to look after dogs for Christmas Todd finds his father stubbornly refusing to let him bring a dog home. But as Todd sets about making sure all the dogs find a home for Christmas he is persistent in trying to convince his dad to let him have one, unaware of the reasons why he is so against it.

I guess I'm not a dog person or maybe I am not a Bruce Greenwood person, although maybe there was something else but for some reason "A Dog Named Christmas" didn't really blow me away. Don't get me wrong as it was a charming and entertaining movie with a good heart but it didn't get hold of my heart like it has with other movies. The story of Todd's persistence to get things done be it convincing his dad to let him adopt a dog or convincing others to adopt a dog is sweet, proving how capable he was. And then there is George's softening towards the dog which Todd calls Christmas which also leads us through his past experiences in Vietnam and why he doesn't want a dog in the house.

But whilst "A Dog Named Christmas" didn't wow me I can kind of see why for others it would. It is a nicely put together movie with good performances from all involved especially Bruce Greenwood, one of those actors who is at home on the big screen as the small. I say that as a compliment as is when I say Peter Werner's direction is beautiful in being unfussy. And by being unfussy means that the message which the movie contains isn't too forced.

What this all boils down to is that "A Dog Named Christmas" ended up a pleasant little movie with a really family friendly tone. But whilst there are many who are completely smitten with it I just found it a nice movie.

Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Dog Movies, Christmas Movies


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