Just in time for this holiday season Disney presents Santa Buddies, a mischievously merry Christmas movie that will not only bring laughter to your home but also touch your heart. Santa Buddies follows a list of fun predecessors including Air Bud, Air Buddies, and Space Buddies, to name a few.
Santa Buddies is a live action film featuring the familiar faces of George Wendt as Santa Claus, Christopher Lloyd as grumpy Stan Crudge, and Danny Woodburn as the lovable Head Elf Eli. Zachary Gordon does the voice-over for the main character, Puppy Paws. Stan is the character you love to hate. Christopher Lloyd plays a spectacularly grumpy dog catcher and his character is very believable. Aside from the human players, there are many fur-covered characters who play important roles in making this movie shine.
Viewers will love the rambunctious, snow white Puppy Paws whose curiosity gets him in trouble. Five personality-filled golden retriever pups called The Buddies enhance the fun and laughs. Budderball, B-Dawg, Rosebud, Mudbud, and Buddha each create their own hilarious antics from the start of the film to the finish. You're bound to fall in love with one, if not all, of them. Some of their rambunctious adventures in Santa Buddies include doggie break dancing, a jaw-dropping mud scene, and a Christmas cookie disaster.
I love the movie's play on the Christmas classic A Christmas Carol. The dog catcher in this movie, Stan Crudge played by Christopher Lloyd, is the villain and, not so coincidentally, his name can be transformed into S. Crudge. Other Christmas Carol similarities are when Stan is visited by the Elf dog resembling Scrooge's spirits, and there's even a version of Tiny Tim. I thought it was neat that they added that layer to the film.
The version of Santa Buddies that I reviewed came with both standard DVD and Blu-ray versions. I did not watch the Blu-Ray version of this film but I think it's great that there is an option. If you have a DVD player in your vehicle you will definitely want to consider buying this so your kids can enjoy it both at home or in the car.
I give this movie two thumbs up for being a delightfully funny family movie while showing children there is more to Christmas than the material side.
Article comments
1 - Jonathan Walker
I have to post something somewhere about this horrible film.
If you're wanting to watch a nice holiday movie with your kids and family, why not try an old favorite over this. This was our first venture in the "Air Buddies" theme of movies and it'll definitely be our last.
The kids fell asleep during the movie, and we adults vacated the living room at the earliest possible moment. Truly, this is not a movie intended for ALL audiences.
1) At the very heart of it the voice and screen acting were terrible. The veteran actors in the movie did well, but the others were simply boring. Hardly any true emotion at all.
2) The CG used in this movie reminded me of computer games back in the 90's. It was cheap and painfully obvious. Coming from a studio that has access to the ever-talented Pixar team, I expected a lot more here.
3) The story itself was poorly written. Kids may find it interesting but the adults watching it with their families may need some headphones ready. The story will bore you to tears before any of the sad scenes crop up.
The best part of the movie was the cute fluffy white pup that starred as "Puppy Paws", however the redundant use of "Puppy Paws" made me wish the movie was about cats instead.
Overall - if you want a good Christmas movie involving animals, try Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.