Santa's Dog

I think this movie went straight for the "Christmas Story" appeal. The story line was a little cheesy and the direction was clearly not very good.

Most of the acting seemed boxed and over directed (ad lib is an amazing tool). In the scenes where the actors had some freedom, you could see real potential for some great acting, between Rick Wilder (Danny Arroyo) and Max Moogle (Anthony Robinson), and between Rick Wilder and Sally (Maggie VandenBerghe), but it seems that in most scenes, they were over directed, and not given license to let themselves act.

This was not the worst Christmas movie I have ever seen, but the director should definitely go back to film school. Give Danny Arroyo, Anthony Robinson, and Maggie VandenBerghe a chance to show their talent. They should be stars....

Finally, please stop casting Mackenzie Phillips in anything. She does not have star power.

I wanted to like it, but the film is poorly made. The actors don't seem to have any direction. Was there even a script? Was there a director on the set? The movie starts out being about "naughty and nice list" and then that gets dropped. Then the star Hercules is hardly ever seen. The voice for the dog is terrible. I see a lot of praise for the movie on this board but that seems to be mostly family and friends of the cast. If anyone sees the film, you will realize how bad it is. Santa was good. The girlfriend was good. But the rest are forgettable. Too bad. We need some good holiday films. But this is definitely not one. Keep away from this one! You read all the reviews on this movie but by watching the film itself, you will realize who is telling the truth.

To my mind, this is the absolute stinker of all time, the "Plan 9 from Outer Space" of Christmas movies. Appearing on Animal Planet, you get the idea that this might not be a classic. While the treatment and script are absolutely miserable, their stinkyness is exceeded by the director, actors, and technical crew.

Plot - Hercules the pit bull has a magic collar (it glows red when Herc talks . . . sometimes). As one of Santa's minions, he is sent to an orphanage to reform a 12 y/o boy, but runs afoul of a young man seeking a job, one of the goofiest toy manufacturer in history, and a rival candidate for the job, all as the young man pursues the store receptionist. So far, not too unusual for a cable Christmas movie.

Director/Cast - Edward Hightower claims to have made three other movies, but it looks like a semester project for a second-semester film class. With a cast composed largely of dinner-theater rejects, he has nothing to work with, but even a few semi-competent actors, Kathy Garver and Mackenzie Phillips, their performances are either stilted or horribly uneven. I'll blame the director. Danny Arroyo as the romantic lead delivers a performance worthy of Ed Wood's dentist. I think he was actually upstaged by the performance of the dog. At least Herc's voice was looped in, leaving the other actors with no excuse. Anthony Robinson has to be somebody's relative, recruited off the stage of his local middle school. He shows flashes of talent, but no consistency. At least Arroyo was consistently bad.

Technical - Here's where the movie achieves true "Plan 9" status. Lighting is sufficient to see, but that's it. Shadows fall all over the set, a couple of green screen sequences are so poorly lit that the chromakeyer can't make much out of the effect, so it looks ragged. Note that these same sequences appear to be lit in blue because the clipping isn't responding to the green screen - making everyone look like they're freezing to death. Cutting seems to have been done measured by the foot - almost totally random.

Audio was incredibly poor, boomy and off mike in interior scenes, shot obviously in real locations rather than on a sound stage. Exteriors were not filtered for background noise, so the actors' lines were buried in street noises and incessant carols broadcast from a storefront. With only a handful of setups, it's obvious this project was shot on a shoestring, but low budget doesn't have to mean such miserable quality is acceptable. Apparently there was no budget for post-production, so special effects approximated those of a fifties Japanese monster movie.

I actually have to give "Hercules Saves Christmas" a very guarded recommendation. If you want to see ugly, this is your Christmas movie. It has a truly miserable script with a barely discernible plot, a director who's only other credits must include a kid's birthday party, and a cast slightly more wooden than that of "Team America", and a tech crew that probably had a week's experience on a student project somewhere.

My wife and I decided to erase the DDR about three minutes in, but we stayed until the credit roll because it was like watching an hour and a half train wreck. You couldn't avert your eyes, it was that bad. A similar movie, "The Search for Santa Paws" (Disney) was far superior, if you can take one of the sub-plots lifted directly from "Annie".

I enjoyed watching this movie with my 5 year old, and he just loved it. I was a great feel good Christmas movie and we really did enjoy it, especially liked seeing Mackenzie Phillips as the role of Helen Dunn and really enjoyed seeing Danny Arroyo who played Rick, these seemed to be the two characters that really seemed to stand out for me thought the production. It is something that is a must watch if you have children, the message in the story is very heartfelt and meaningful for the spirit of Christmas. As far as animal Christmas movie's go and we know how many there are during this time of year, I would safely recommend this one for sure, you will not be disappointed.

This really is a poorly acted and executed movie. I hate to say that, but that's my take on it. But here's the thing, my young son LOVES it! It's one of his favorites. It hurts me to watch, but he would watch it over and over and over. So if you're looking for a silly, lighthearted movie that kids will like, this could be the one.

IF, however, you're looking for fine acting, great special effects, nuanced directing, a evocative script, or any other good characteristics of movies for adults, you will not find them. Sorry. But your kids might really enjoy it. It's like a bad cartoon on Saturday morning: "Do you REALLY like this?" as their giggling themselves silly on the couch.