Walking Through a Christmas Regular
Christmas is coming and for Luce Lockhart (Lexi Giovagnoli) that means Christmas shopping with her girls. But Luce has a problem as she has maxed out her credit cards and in order to pat for a darling little ruby necklace will have to earn some money. It is how she comes to be walking Hank, the dog owned by Missy (Dina Meyer) and Byron Paxton (Patrick Muldoon) who are looking to build a spa on some local land, something Luce thinks will be great. Whilst walking Hank Luce meets Dean (Jonathan Bennett) a handsome but annoying young man who like many walks their dog in the park although for Dean it is a dear lady's dog he walks for her. But as Luce and Dean get to know each other trouble looms when it is realised that the planned Spa will be on the park where everyone walks their dogs and with Dean opposed to it, it causes issues between him and Luce as she is forced to reassess her values.
That synopsis is a bit longer than I would normally bother writing and there is a reason, if I didn't pad things out this review of "A Dogwalker's Christmas Tale" would be incredibly short. Strip this Christmas movie back to its bare bones and what you have is a self centred young woman falling for someone who first antagonizes her and then she re-assesses her priorities when a park is threatened by a developer. And like so many Christmas movies those bare bones of a story are incredibly familiar, maybe a little too familiar in this case as "A Dogwalker's Christmas Tale" doesn't have the charm to make that familiarity work.
I suppose the trouble I have when it comes to "A Dogwalker's Christmas Tale" is that it lacks subtlety from start to finish. From girls being overly girly when shopping to Dean being far too nice, whilst comedy set pieces end up coming across as too forced, it is a movie which at times borders on being painful. It is the same when it comes to the acting with Dina Meyer and Patrick Muldoon once again in a movie together and here intentionally delivering things so over the top it might amuse young teens but comes across as painful for others. Fortunately Jonathan Bennett and Lexi Giovagnol are less over the top although still delivering things in a forced comedy manner.
What this all boils down to is that "A Dogwalker's Christmas Tale" is one of those Christmas movies which probably works best for those young enough to enjoy forced comedy and characters. But even if that isn't your thing it is still on par with most Christmas movies, those which get quickly made from a familiar storyline each year.
Tags: Christmas Movies
