Todos os Cães do Natal

Every year there are several movies that pop up in stores that have the appearance of being quality family entertainment. Generally, most of them are disappointing at best. To my surprise, "The 12 Dogs of Christmas" isn't among the disappointments, though it does have its share of flaws.

Young Emma's father leaves her with her aunt in a small town that has just outlawed dogs. In an act of heroism, she rescues a puppy from the town's maniacal dogcatcher, and finds that she has a deep-rooted for canines. Along the way, she befriends the town's supposedly crazy "dog lady" and her son, as well as the local coach, a Russian dog-sledder and her initially angry aunt. In the process, she also makes enemies of the mean-spirited dogcatcher and his brother, the town's mayor. Yes, some of the characters are cookie-cutter, and the results are more than predictable. However, the movie uses the characters' -- and the viewers' -- love for dogs to bring about some very warm and pleasant results.

After viewing, we realized we enjoyed this movie enough to add this DVD to our holiday collection. I recommend it in the best spirit of a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This review is all over the place.

The film is seriously awful. I can't believe that anyone who didn't not the cast or live in the town could find this anything more.

I found it exploitive - it didn't exploit dogs directly but those who may chose to watch this because of the dogs. Who knew you could be more exploitive than Disney? Or have a final worse than the CBC? Maybe you, not me.

The acting was poor with the exception of "The Dog Lady", the quality of the filming was as poor and the dog fights were so unbelievably unrealistic (thankfully so) to make this nothing but turgid and make me nothing but angry.

Our family watched this film and we just enjoyed the film. It is a good film for dog lovers. At first when we picked up the film from the rental store there was only 3 copies. at first I thought that this was a sign that this is a bad film. But I was so surprised that there was not more copies available to the public. There are very few family movies out there for people to view. I think the principal from the school reminded me of a famous actor who played the telephone operator in a old comedy series. And also the Aunt played a good role. Our favorite person who played a very small role was the little girl in the end who sang the part about a poodle in a dog house. You will know what I mean if you watch the film.

I'm old, and I don't mind admitting it. I remember when family movies were made by Disney, and they had story lines that kids and parents could watch together without embarrassment or fear, and which were just plain old simple entertainment. Somehow somewhere along the track Hollywood slipped off the rails and decided that little kids needed to hear naughty words, and parents wouldn't take their kids to a show if they couldn't see some at least some implied sex. WRONG!!!

Kieth Merrill seems to have remembered. Here is a story where the bad guys are bad, but on a level that kids can cope with, and the good guys are good, but on a matching level. Folks like I know and live around. The protagonist boy and girl are nice kids, they don't kiss, they don't even get romantic. The school marm looks a bit like Lily Tomlin, and is just the right level of taught and nasty, and redeems herself at the end. The mayor is pompous and stuffy, and comes around in the end too.

It is all wonderful fluff, with dogs that behave a lot of the time, and don't, just enough of the time, to make the film extra believable. The camera work and acting are outstanding. I have no hesitation in recommending this film to any family anywhere for watching together as a family. Please buy it and thumb your nose at the "experts" in Hollywood who just don't "get" it that nice clean family fun like this is worth making, and has a market.

My husband and I enjoyed watching The 12 Dogs of Christmas. Not only were we impressed with the vintage feel, character development and wonderful display of dogs we were impressed with Eric Lutes, my husbands brother who played the coach. The next morning we tested the movie on our 3 year old daughter. She and her 14 month old brother were totally delighted! Often she would gleefully shout out Uncle Eggie!, Uncle Eggie!

I do hope folks spread the word about this endearing movie. Oh, our local Walmart in Vermont was sold out of the DVD's!

Happy Holidays! ~The Lutes Family