Best movie of this year hands down!

What makes it different from others?

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Noel Fisher deserved an Oscar for his performance in this truly superb family drama.My wife and I recently watched this movie and loved it, and we are going to watch it again over Christmas.Noel Fisher's performance was an Oscar Winner. Uplifting. Everything about this movie was uplifting.I had never heard of Noel Fisher until I saw this movie. I am not saying anything about this movie. Suffice to say that Noel Fisher's performance was truly fantastic.If you reading this, don't like this film for any reason, you neither have a heart, or a soul.And no, I'm not joking.Sentimentality is frowned on today in the so called civilized Western World.Grown men will want cry when they watch Noel Fisher's performance. If you do cry, don't feel ashamed. I didn't feel ashamed.Noel Fisher if your reading this, well done.

Again, this movie, like all movies presented by Hallmark was an excellent movie. Lots of sentimentality and family values. The writers needed an excuse to bring a dog from the fathers past into the movie, so they put the dog into Viet Nam, where supposedly, the father served. If a movie is going to drag Viet Nam in, the writers need to hire a veteran to proofread the script. To start with, this man is too young to have served in the principal part of the war. Bruce Greenwood was born in 1956. No one born in 1956 served in the Vietnam War. The war ended in 1973 when he was, at the most, 17. He is shown walking patrol and finding the dog. Walking patrol in Viet Nam was over when Bruce Greenwood was 16. Then he is shown reading a letter he had sent his wife from Viet Nam. The envelope has postage on it. All Viet Nam veterans know that letters from Viet Nam were free, just like the letters from Iraq today. Once again, let me reiterate, there were no stamps on letters sent from Viet Nam to the States. To mail a letter, all a soldier had to do was write the word "FREE" in the upper right hand corner. Got that kjirstin-1? Once again, letters from Viet Nam did not, and I repeat DID NOT, have stamps in the right hand corner. The movie was good, let's just leave Viet Nam to the Viet Nam vets shall we.

Great story that will engage the interest of all who love animals and hopefully change the views of those who are not animal lovers. As Anatole France said, "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." This movie demonstrates love for animals, family and is a great advocate for the learning disabled. This movie will help us all understand this quote from Mahatma Gandhi,"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." Hopefully it will encourage people to adopt from our overcrowded animal shelters and to participate in spay/neuter programs also. This movie will be added to the classic Christmas movies our family watches every Christmas.

I agree completely with Kjirstin-1. I'm glad she pointed out the "errors" (for want of a better word) in sdquinn2-1's post about Bruce Greenwood's age and the Viet Nam postage issue. I thought bringing that into the film was perfect; it was a great way to explain why George didn't want to bond with another dog.And for those of us who are around the same age as Bruce Greenwood, it was even more powerful to see how his character looked during the war and how he looks now. Something we can 'relate' to, which made the movie that much more powerful and moving. On another note, I adore Bruce Greenwood, and again, in agreement with Kjirstin-1, he could play pretty much any character. He is an incredible actor, and he was perfect for that role. Noah Fisher was also incredible. I've seen him in a few TV shows (Law & Order SVU) where he was good; but he was so believable as the 'challenged' Todd. Not just any actor could perform that well in such a role.To say that the actor dog who played Christmas was phenomenal is an understatement. This was another aspect of the film which made it so great.So to sum up, this was just a wonderful film in every sense of the word. And last but not least, the gentleman who wrote the book upon which the movie was based expressing the need for people to adopt homeless dogs for Christmas not only added to the poignancy of the movie, but hopefully, planted a seed in the viewers' minds about adopting a pet.