The Christmas Shepherd

The producers probably couldn't resist the play on words in the title of this film. There are no sheep or sheep herders in this film. One might say that this film has gone to the dogs (or dog), but that would be a play on words that wasn't accurate either. No, it's a film centered around a German Shepherd.

"The Christmas Shepherd" is more dramatic and sad than most of the TV movies made for airing during the holiday season. It's very low key in the romance area, and is more about healing and getting on with life. I don't think it's accurate to call it a romance. It's clearly a drama and a Christmas story. In this plot, both of the main characters have lost their spouses.

Sally Brown's husband was in the military and after serving three tours in Afghanistan without an injury, he died of a hart attack in his last stateside tour. Sally has a son who is in the Army and stationed in Afghanistan. She is a famous author of children's books, but lives in the country of Massachusetts, preferring solitude away from the crowds that she had been around when her husband was alive. She has a couple of lady friends in town, and her best companion is her German Shepherd, Buddy, whom her husband brought back from his last tour in Afghanistan as a pup five years ago.

Mark Green is in the Army reserves and has a young teenage daughter, Emma. His wife and Emma's mother died a year or two ago, but we never find out the cause. Mark had a successful career in advertising but quit it after his wife died. He moved to a smaller town in Massachusetts to be near his sister and family, and owns and operates a coffee shop.

When Sally is in town one day, a heavy thunderstorm with fierce winds and lightning occurs, and Buddy is frightened by it and takes off. Sally is frantic over her dog's disappearance and spends weeks trying to find him, and is unable to work. The dog, in the meantime, many miles from home has been hurt and is picked up by a truck driver who takes him to an animal shelter. Mark's sister runs the shelter and Mark take Buddy home. As Emma gets attached to the dog, heartbreaks are in store as these people are brought together over Buddy.

One can guess how the story will end, but it's not the usual effervescent romance that develops in the formulaic holiday romance films. The plot is a good one, but two aspects of this film are troublesome. The first is the exaggerated association of coincidences or good luck being attributed to Buddy. The script pushes this notion in places, to the disbelief of this and probably many other alert viewers. The second is Teri Polo's overly dramatic acting for most of the film, especially her nervous anxiety and inability to even calm down. The role might have called for that, but if so, it's a distraction that makes it much harder to believe. Perhaps she and the director saw it as building empathy for the character with the audience, but in reality it's a picture of a distraught person who needs professional help.

Jordyn Olson is fine as Emma Green and Martin Cummins is very good as Mark Green. The supporting cast members are all fine. Overall, this isn't a holiday season film that will leave most with a good feeling, even with its supposedly happy ending.

If you're looking for Anna Karenina or something cerebral, look elsewhere. If you're looking for an enjoyable holiday movie with decent acting and a nice story, pull up a chair. You do have to suspend your ideas about dog ownership rights but it's not really a crisis. I don't think Hallmark was making any kind of a political statement. I wasn't looking for a bullet proof plot and so I don't think it bothered me much. I chocked the little bit of fluff up to setting up the story. It's an entertaining little movie... just don't take the premise too seriously and enjoy it for what it is. I thought the acting was fine, especially the lead female.

If it weren't for the romantic Christmas factor, which is clearly what attracts the favorable ratings, this movie would be a real stinker. That alone rates a seven. And the acting is overdone (does Hallmark just have bad directors, or don't any of their Christmas movie actors know how to act?), every scene seems to have an added dose of melodrama. That drops it another couple of points.

And the entire plot with the dog, starting from the point that it ran away, was ridiculous. No self-respecting pet lover would keep a dog that belonged to someone else if the owner was found, especially not as in this situation where the dog was the pet of a soldier who was killed and then was the soldier's wife's reminder of him.

Not to mention the fact that no shelter would ship a dog out so quick clear across country. It came in with a collar with his name on it, meaning he has an owner and a family, and no shelter would ship it across country so quick without doing everything it could and taking several weeks to try and find the owner. Even then it would normally get fostered in the area were it was found, instead of adopted out.

And nobody ever addresses why it had no tag or wasn't chipped. That is irresponsible pet ownership. This would have been a great opportunity to spread the word about making sure your pet has a license tag on its collar at all times, along with a name and address and phone number tag (something you can get for $5 at your nearest Walmart where you can always find an automatic pet tag engraving machine), and to also get it chipped if you can. No pet should ever stay lost for long, it's traumatic for the owner AND the pet.

With all that said, it just stretches the imagination that a supposedly good man would be so selfish as to keep that dog away from its rightful owner, and to teach his daughter that it was OK. Just because she has had a difficult time doesn't mean you suspend teaching responsibility and kindness and generosity.

Understandably, to a child who has just suffered a major loss, it could be traumatic to suffer even further loss, but they'd only had the dog for two weeks, so for heaven's sake, if a dog is what the girl needs, teach her that she can't just keep another person's dog and go get her another one.

To the guy's credit, he did work to sway the girl's mind, but not at first, and a good parent would have just laid down the law and said we must do the right thing and give the dog back. That just isn't something you let a kid think is OK. And what is this bunk about letting the girl make the rules? Don't they even teach good parenting on the Hallmark Channel anymore?

At some point in the movie, there is a discussion that legally the man can keep the dog. I'm pretty sure that is not true. A lost pet does not legally change ownership if the original owner is found only 2 weeks after it ran away in a storm.

And the guy's sister questions that the original owner would want to take the dog away because the guy and his daughter have fallen in love with the dog? Come on.

And the daughter says, "I'm sorry Dad, but Buddy (the dog) is part of our family now." What? The girl honestly can't even empathize with the dog's owner's loss, especially after just suffering loss of her own? Is she a sociopath or something, unable to understand the pain of others? Normal people would be even more sensitive to the needs of others when they've suffered a fresh loss like that.

And when they take the dog back to its owner, the guy says, "I just wanted to make sure that we've done the right thing (bringing the dog back), but I can see we did." What? Again, what? First, you don't know you've done the right thing bringing the dog back to its rightful owner, then you have to gall to pass judgment one way or another? Even though you've previously met the dog's owner and know she is a good person and the dog still knows her and they care for each other? I'm still scratching my head on this one.

Not to mention, the girl doesn't seem upset at all by her separation from the dog. So what was the big deal again?

I like Hallmark Christmas movies, even the sappy ones. But this one just has all kinds of wrong all over it. Sorry, but I'm not a fan, it stinks. As a pet movie of any kind, it shows a total ignorance of every pet issue that should be addressed in the movie. And the parenting examples are horrendous.

If I had to guess, this was some clueless screenwriter who has lost touch with the real world, because the plot is so far off base it smacks of wacko Hollywood. I think that to like it, you couldn't understand parenting or pets very well.

This is one of the Hallmark Channel Christmas movies for 2014 -- they have been producing twelve of them every year for the last few years. It's one of their dog-centered pieces, as a German shepherd plays the go-between for the two romantic leads, Teri Polo and Mark Cummins and the effect is well done, with a nice, quizzical beast in the title role.

I have some issues with the production. It is supposedly set in Massachussetts in November, although there are several outdoors shots with trees wearing their summer leaves. There isn't much to it except for the central cast: widowed Teri Polo and her dog, widower Mark Cummins and his daughter, played by Jordyn Ashley Olson. It's a sentimental woman's movie that should please its intended audience of adult women and dog lovers.

Hopes were not high for 'The Christmas Shepherd'. Count me in as another person who found the premise ridiculous in concept. Saw it anyway though because of my love of Christmas and my appreciation for festive films. The film's biggest name cast name is Teri Polo, who as an actress is somewhat hit and miss. my first exposure to her being the 'Criminal Minds' episode "I Love You Tommy Brown" (one of that show's worst episodes of the season it was part of) where she didn't particularly impress me.

Generally found 'The Christmas Shepherd' to be quite charming and with its heart in the right place. Also not quite as ridiculous as it sounded on paper. 'The Christmas Shepherd' fares quite well as a romantic drama, not amazingly done but pleasantly enough. Dog lovers are likely though to not enjoy the film as much and instead watch it in frustration and annoyance, that aspect of the story could have been done in better taste as has been said already.

Will start with the good. Despite the lack of authenticity, the locations are lovely to look at and overall 'The Christmas Shepherd' is appealing visually. The festive feeling is captured well in the soundtrack. It is scripted with much sincerity, flows quite well, has cohesion and the dialogue doesn't feel too shallow or fake.

Despite also being flawed, the story is mostly engaging, is very sweet and charming, with its fair share of heart-warming and touching moments. Definitely a film that had its heart in the right place, and it didn't come over as too dark with generally the right lightness of touch. The pace didn't come over as dull or rushed and while the acting didn't blow the socks off and is not perfect, it tends to be better than average. The dog is cute as is the romance, which does sparkle, and the portrayal of dating is done with sensitivity.

Some of it though came over as overwrought and melodramatic, with Polo having instances where she tries too hard which can be seen in some of her facial expressions. 'The Christmas Shepherd' can be too cheesy in spots and too sentimental in others.

Others have mentioned the subplot with the dog, which is one of the film's biggest failings. Even for anybody who is giving the premise a fair chance and not take it too seriously, the execution of it here shows a complete lack of research and realism and came over as face-palming and in a tasteless way instead even for those who aren't dog owners. A shame as other aspects of the story are sensitively handled and are realistic, namely with the dating.

In summation, nice and well-intentioned but not great. 6/10