Pretty Good

As Good As It Gets

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Unleash hell onto your Christmas season, by watching one of the worst pointless wishy-washy kid's Christmas movie, ever. Strange to think this is somehow the ninth sequel to the original 1997 movie, Air Bud. This movie series has little to do with that original sport film. It's not even about the playing basketball dog. It's about his puppies. It's a cash grab spin-off franchise; that deserve to be impounded. Directed by Robert Vince, the movie tells the story of how the North Pole is losing power due to Christmas spirit dying around the world. I guess, the message of the film is trying to promote family values and peace on Earth and not being materialism, but the message get kinda lose in the hijinx of the Santa Puppies. Honestly, if the movie really wanted to show, how the Christmas spirit is dying; show how little people go to Church. It's funny to see children in the film praying to Santa Claus (George Wendt). Wasn't this holiday, originally about Jesus? If the movie really wanted to go deep, it should show how the pagan holiday of the winter solstice was turn into Jesus's in order to convert more people. I don't think the creators of this movie knows what the Christmas spirit is. It's weird that they have a Buddhist e dog believe in Christmas in this film. I guess, based on this movie, all religions celebrate Christmas. Ever scarier is the fact that Santa Claus's pet Santa Paws (Voiced by Tom Bosley) youngest pup ran away from the North Pole due to his hatred for the holiday. What they don't know is that Puppy Paws (Voiced by Zackary Gordon), went out in the world in search of why people were losing sight of the real meaning of Christmas, but got capture by the evil, dog catcher, Mr. Stan Cruge (Christopher Lloyd) It's going to takes all of the Air Buddies: Budderball (Voiced by Josh Flitter), B-Dawg (Voiced by Skylar Gisondo), Mudbud (Voiced by Ty Panitz), Rosebud (Voiced by Lilliana Mumy), and Buddha (Voiced by Field Cate) to rescue him from the pound, show him the real meaning of Christmas and save the holiday. The story is pretty generic and predictable. The movie plot is pretty much a loosely story based on the Charles Dickens' 'Christmas Carol'. The movie has a good message, but lacks the depth to explore upon it. Characters like Tiny (Voiced by Kaitlyn Maher) & Stan Cruge were similar to those of Dickens's character, Tiny Tim & Scrooge, but they didn't have much character arch to them. All of the characters in the film were kinda one-dimensional as hell in their personalities. There's a rapping dog, a country dog, a football dog, and a dog that's a Buddhist. They were very annoying. I can do without a Vanilla Ice like dog. I really can't take how badly done, their mouths more. Honestly, they shouldn't even try, moving it. Just keep it close up like 1993's 'Homeward Bound' did. Not only that, they were kinda offensive. Character like Mickey (Andrew Astor) are appalling. I didn't like his racial stereotypical voicing for Italian and Indian. I know that the movie isn't supposed to be taken serious due to the fact that it's a kid movie, but I don't think dumbing down the material is good for children. I think certain children are a lot smarter than we think, they are. This movie is way dumb. Most of the film was spent, with a lot of filler scenes like learning how to break dance or roll in the mud. Honestly, if you're going to tackle the Christmas Carol; at less, make it seem sense and simple. I really can't get behind the film as the CGI computer effect were just god awful. I hate how the dogs talk in this film; it doesn't really sync up and looks awkward, most of the film. The fully animated, WSX reindeer segment are poorly done, that gave the production a very low budget feel. I think the animal in the film felt very unconformable in being pet actors. Santa Buddies had alright song, but most of them were pretty forgettable. The worst, had to be the dog, Tony who sings a really sappy song. The movie even have bonus features that include three classic Christmas sing-along songs and Steve Rushton's music video "Santa is coming to town'. The singers in this film, didn't add anything new to the classic songs. It felt like rehash covers, than innovative. The movie comes in Blu-Ray and DVD. There are plenty of bonus material for the kids to look at. Obviously, this movie isn't made for adult, and it makes a hard sit for parents. I think, adults will like it, only if they are huge, pet lovers. Indeed, it will make you say, 'AWWW…how cute!". This cute concept is pretty bad. Lots of eye candy with little to no depth. This concept has since spawned tons of awful direct sequels of its own and it needs to end. The franchise really jumped the shark at 2009's Space Buddies. Overall: For pet Christmas movies, it's not the worst. It's no way, near the level of 2001's Kevin of the North AKA Chilly Dogs. Still, it's more entertaining than better rating films like 2009's A Golden Christmas with a similar theme. It's pretty much, harmless for children, but in my opinion, there are better films for children to watch, during the Christmas season than this. Watch it, if you really want to, but I can't recommended it.

Watched due to a policy we have of monitoring our kids' "free" viewing choice, a policy we are now reconsidering after sitting through this pile of dog snow. Basically there is no Christmas movie cliché that is not recycled, nor is there a script problem that can't be addressed with "magic blah blah blah".My wife and I did have a running discussion during the film, though, as to whether George Wendt was (a) drunk (b) deliberately trying to camp it up, or (c) channeling his worst high school play as the inspiration for his performance.There is some nostalgia value, though: Christopher Lloyd revives his "Jim" character from Taxi, at least we think that's what he's doing. The computer-animated reindeer reminded me of the talking Camels from the pre-1972 Camel cigarette ads.So, cynical adults, did the kids enjoy it? The six-year old got bored, at the end the nine-year old, whose choice it was, said, "my Christmas wish is that I had chosen another movie for my video time."

I've never seen an Air Bud movie. I know right? Insanity. But it's Christmas and so I just have to watch a ridiculous amount of Christmas movies, no matter how bad they are. This film just lays it out straight away. Santa and his dog (???) are walking (probably on the spot) in a painfully obvious CGI North Pole. Suddenly the dog talks, with a CGI mouth but a face as blank as a plank of wood. It turns out this is Santa Paws, the dog that delivers presents to all the good puppies in the world. Anyway, the Christmas spirit is dying, and this causes the North Pole to lose power. Puppy Paws, a little ragamuffin that just wants to be a normal puppy, sets off to learn from the Air Buddies. This film will be painful to anybody over the age of 6. Sometimes the animals, such as the reindeer, are completely CGI, but don't fit their surroundings at all. Christopher Lloyd plays a dog catcher named Crooge (I can't believe I'm typing this either). He stalks around like some kind of serial killer, but goes completely slapstick when he needs to catch a dog. The movie also contains a sick and possibly dying little boy, a vomit inducing song, and characters such as B-Dawg. He's a puppy. He break dances. Once again, something that seems to be a staple of kids movies, we have a protagonist that ruins everything. He breaks stuff, gets puppies in trouble, and so on. Why do kids films always have the message that it's OK to be an idiot? How about a character that uses common sense and has some social skills. He doesn't even learn a valuable lesson, those around him just have to accept him for who he is. The less said about the annoying voices the better, but one performance that simply can't be ignored is that of Santa. A supercut needs to be made of his reactions to terrible news. He's a lifeless soul in a film that aims for cute, but smashes through annoying.

"Santa Buddies" is an entertaining family flick, that really hits the mark when it comes to the Christmas spirit. The dogs are fun to watch and very adorable and the cast is OK, with known names as Christopher Lloyd (Back To The Future) and George Wendt (House, Cheers TV-series). Not just for the kids among us, it is enjoyable for anyone. Talking dogs is nothing new, but it is nicely done with lots of funny moments. But what kind of dog is that white puppy and the great white one ? Well the answer is: Pyrenean Mountain Dogs, also known as the Great Pyrenees. We happen to own one ourselves and they are kind of rare. It is nice to finally see them on the big screen.