Doggone It
Christmas is coming and a pair of brothers find themselves being befriended by a Jack Russell Terrier who seems to be able to communicate with them telepathically much to their surprise. But with their father out of work and money tight it is unlikely they are going to be allowed to keep their new pet so they keep him hidden. What they don't know is that this gifted pooch was being transported by a government agency to a lab to be experimented on and they want him back or to prevent him falling in to the hands of the enemy with special forces agent, Camilla Sharp (Lauren Parkinson) doing what ever it takes to get the dog back.
As a lover of Christmas movies I often scour the TV schedule during November and December for Christmas movies which I haven't seen before. But after a while you soon discover that if you spot a Christmas movie lower down the channel list which is being aired during the daytime and repeated two or three times over the next week you can hazard a guess that this isn't going to be special. And to be blunt that is the case of "A Doggone Christmas", a good hearted stab at some child friendly Christmas entertainment which doesn't offer much for any grown up who watches it.
As such we have the old cliche of children hiding a dog which they find and some bad guys trying to find and take the dog. We have some good will when it comes to some of the bad guys and of course the dog has a super power to talk telepathically but as a grown up it felt like I had watched the same storyline before, quote a few times. It is why it might work for a young audience as they may not be familiar with the storyline and that young audience probably won't be so bemused by the acting from a cast which with the exception of Dominique Swain I did not recognize.
What this all boils down to is that "A Doggone Christmas" is the sort of movie which might entertain young children who will enjoy hearing the inner thoughts of a clever dog. But for anyone over the age of 13 this has very little to offer in the form of entertainment be it festive or not, and having an actor try and sound like Dirty Harry whilst playing the school principal only adds to the negatives.
Tags: Dog Movies, Christmas Movies
