De l'amour pour Noël

It was an impossible task. Director Michael Fiefer was asked to helm a follow-up to the greatest and most heart-warming Christmas classic of the modern era. Of course, I am speaking of the perplexingly straight- to-DVD holiday standard Golden Christmas 2.

Compared to that mighty standard, perhaps the most technically perfect script ever committed to celluloid, and despite the remarkable performance of Orson Bean as "Mr. Cole," Golden Christmas franchise fans around the world are today scratching their heads in a communal sigh of "hmm?!"

Mark Famiglietti, who plays "Roger," was hopelessly miscast, for starters. If I never see another Golden Retriever-centric Christmas film with Mark Famiglietti again, that would be just peachers, IMHO.

And my second and final complaint is that there just aren't enough dogs in this film. Compared to a motion picture like Hotel for Dogs, which promised at least as much hotel as dog representation but far over- delivered on the latter, I have to say that there is just too much Christmas in this film, not enough Golden. KNOW WHAT I MEAN?

Would not watch again.

This film barely has any real connection to Christmas. (Christmas Day is ignored completely and ifinishes during July).

The movie description say (Naval Officer). This is incorrect. The young man rank is 2nd Class Petty Officer. I know they went after the younger age group, but this would have been a much better movie if it were about a retired Chief Petty Officer or actual naval officer.

They could have gone with the theme of a Officer and Gentleman from 30 years ago. That might have worked. I still think it would have worked much better if they had gone with a more mature age group since they made it about the US military.

Shalom

Love For Christmas/A Golden Christmas 3 (2012) -

I do love a sailor! And cute dogs are always good to win me over, but on this second or perhaps third time of watching this one, I decided that I just couldn't finish it. Normally the way Rob Mayes looked as Bobby the sailor man, would be enough to keep my interest, but the situations and silliness, especially with Heather's (Shantel VanShanten) boyfriend Roger and Mr. Cole drove me a bit crazy on this viewing. I also hate it when they crucify Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'.

Also, Mark Famiglietti, who played Roger has become very typecast, playing obnoxious knobheads and that's a shame, because he could be very cute in a leading man role.

As I said, I have seen it all the way through before, but I don't really remember the ending, maybe my sub conscious was telling me that it was bad, which was why I turned it off, but I didn't feel that it would be fair to score it based on this occasion.

Unscored as Unfinished.

The first 'A Golden Christmas' was rather average, with enough good things but significantly unbalanced by a truly over-the-top obnoxious lead character and actress. The second was an improvement and improved on a lot of things. So while expectations were not massive for 'A Golden Christmas 3', as sequels do have a variable reputations (often the third films in trilogies), there were hopes, especially as there are people saying it's the best of the three.

After seeing 'A Golden Christmas 3', actually do personally disagree with it being the best of the series. For me the second is the best, but this is a quite a close second best. Didn't love it, but certainly didn't hate it. Feelings were instead mixed to positive, with a lot of the good things seen in the first two films seen and like the second film it doesn't have the disadvantage of an overly negative female lead unbalancing the film. Just wish it could have been better.

Certainly 'A Golden Christmas 3' has good things. It is pleasant looking, especially the scenery inside and particularly out. The music generally doesn't sound cheap or over-bearing, and was clearly done by someone that knew what they were writing music for. The two leads are very engaging, with Nikki DeLoach particularly giving it her all. Their characters are neither too perfect and the negative character traits are not over-exaggerated.

Supporting cast generally were above average, with the roles not feeling overacted or underplayed. Also didn't feel annoyed by most of the characters and the dogs are adorable. There are enough cute and charming moments here and the chemistry had a warmth.

However, there are things that could have been done a lot better. Some of the script is very cheesy, especially in the early stretches which are also too slight in momentum. Do agree that there are too many musical montages that were generally not necessary and randomly placed.

Likewise with that the ex-boyfriend character is an overused stereotype that is very annoying and the only character that has negative characteristics that are overwritten. The story is very predictable and not always focused and the central relationship while charming and natural was too rushed in development.

In conclusion, slightly above average but not much mind-blowing here. 5.5/10.