The Dog Who Saved Halloween

Good for all ages free of adult language or themes. Not overly exciting or scary though there are some light jump scares that invoke laughter more often than fear.

The Dog Who Saved Halloween was a big hit on our family movie night!!! We really enjoyed hearing our four Grandkids laugh so hard. We had bought "The Dog Who Saved Christmas, which the kids loved, so when we saw "The Dog Who Saved Halloween" we couldn't resist buying the newest "Dog" movie.Elisa Donovan is a fantastic actress as well as Gary Valentine. Dean Cain has been a favorite since he appeared in Superman, and his partner Joey Diaz is a hoot! Our Grandkids love the dog and think he is brilliant opening the refrigerator and bringing the drink to his owner, really impressed them! Our five year old Grand daughter asked us to buy the DVD of "The Dog Who Saved Halloween" as a present for her four year old cousin! Because its not that scary and it was really funny! We have decided to buy extra copies for Halloween gifts.

This is a kids' movie. There are numerous jokes involving bodily functions (both human and dog), some cartoon violence that includes incidents which could kill a person in real life, and one scene where Monica is showing too much of her chest. But it's appropriate family viewing. It would have to be because no one but kids under 12 could possibly be that impressed with it.

Joey Diaz is a great moron who gives the standout performance as Stewey. Dean Cain has done better in his career but he's entertaining enough.

Lance Henriksen gives a quality performance (for this material), at least in his first scenes with George, just creepy enough but not truly scary, so there's no concern for the kids.

Elisa Donovan is the voice of reason and out of the remaining actors playing humans comes the closest to giving a good performance.

Ariana George as Shelley the Spider, Eli's pet, gives us an interesting performance. Only other animals can hear her. Mayim Bialik as Medusa is also pretty good, more angry Blossom than shy scientist Amy.

Zeus is well trained, but his voice actor is nothing to write home about, except in one memorable scene where the dog tries on Halloween costumes.

Mindy Sterling (as Grandma) is not Lily Tomlin. There is a resemblance but Tomlin is better.

The visual effects are effective but not too scary for kids. Eli's house is appropriately scary with moving suits of armor, paintings with eyes that move, and the other kids' horror movie stereotypes.

As for the solution to the big mystery, and the heroic deed of Zeus: only kids will be impressed. The only reason for the movie's name is to connect it with what appear to be numerous sequels to the first one. I can hardly wait.

Oh, well, I had a good time.

George (Gary Valentine) and Belinda (Elisa Donovan) have moved with their two children into a new house in the suburbs. Right next door, near Halloween, is a spooky mansion with lots of orange decorations. Soon, George gets tangled up in the stuff, makes loud noises, and wakes the neighbors. None of them is happy at the disturbance and this thwarts Belinda's plans for the family to be welcomed into the new environs. Nevertheless, they go ahead with plans to host a Halloween party. Meanwhile, George has hurt his leg and stays home with Zeus the loyal dog (voiced by Joey Lawrence) all week. He suspects even more unusual experiments and happenings are going on in the spook house. Therefore, he contacts old enemies, two burglars (Dean Cain and Joey Diaz) to sneak into the horror mansion and find out exactly what is going on, before it is too late. What they find is the stuff that will curl your hair and your toes! This fun film has plenty of scary elements that may be too much for the youngest dog lovers. Included are things like paintings with moving eyes, secret passages, empty armor that raises limbs and more. Spooky funky fun! Also delightful is the cast, especially Valentine and the two burglars. Having been probably told this two thousand times, Valentine still remains Kevin James first cousin of comedy and he's wonderful. Cain and Diaz are likewise an adorable couple of mischief, although Cain's handsome face has been marred by stubble, etc. All of the other actors are fine, too. Zeus is an adorable dog, with so much talent! Watch him fetch cokes and chips for George and much, much more. All of the elements of sets, costumes, script and direction are top-notch, too, for a family flick. In short, give three woofs for dogs, Halloween fun, and laughs in abundance.

Having seen both "The Dog Who Saved Christmas" and "The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation" on ABC Family, I was very surprised to see this sequel on the shelf in the store. I didn't know they were making another one! Since we'd enjoyed the previous ones, and my kids love Halloween, I brought it home to show the family to watch, with no idea what to expect.

Needless to say, we enjoyed it. In fact, my kids said it was their favorite one in the series. I'd have to agree.

In this one, George Bannister breaks his leg while exploring his creepy neighbor's yard and then spends the rest of the movie with his dog Zeus trying to figure out what's really going on. He finally hires the two robbers from the first two films to break in and prove to his family that he's not crazy.

My kids loved this movie!! It's creepy without being scary and a whole lot of fun. Unlike the previous two films, this one actually has real special effects. There's bats and ghosts, and… while I could have done without the poop and fart jokes and the dog's mouth still doesn't move… the kids really got a kick out of the action. Joey Lawrence replaces Mario Lopez this time and does an okay job. I really liked Mayim Bialik as the evil dog next door. I kept waiting for some "Blossom" references, but I didn't notice any.

Unlike some family films, my husband and I could sit through it. We enjoyed the "Rear Window" references and got a kick out of seeing Lance Henriksen in a kids movie.

If your kids love dogs and Halloween, definitely check this one out.