The Dog Who Saved Christmas (2009)
Zeus, a Labrador Retriever and a former police dog, has lost his bark after his barking ended up blowing off a five-year investigation and his partner can't shoot straight again and ends up at the pound. He is adopted by a father as both an early Christmas present and as a guard dog for the house, but the mom remains hesitant.
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a perfect addition to the holiday season and its a very family friendly Xmas tradtition for future family time in this movie this come out in 2009 on TV i gave this film 6/10 at a short 1hr25mins but jump in a watch this cute Xmas movie The Bannister family's new addition, Zeus (voiced by Mario Lopez of TV's SAVED BY THE BELL), the yellow Labrador, appears to be less than the dependable guard dog the family needs.he wrecks the house and the family decide when they come back he is gone with no bark cause of a trauma However, when two burglars set out to break into the Bannister's home while they're away for Christmas, Zeus seizes the his chance to be a hero and a member of the family and stop being in the dog house so by a guard and a pet proving he can , proving every dog - even this one - has his day. Dean Cain (TV's LOIS & CLARK), Gary Valentine (TV's THE KING OF QUEENS), Elisa Donovan (CLUELESS, TV's SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH), Mindy Sterling (AUSTIN POWERS), and Adrienne Barbeau (MAUDE, CARINVALE) also lend their voices in this heart-warming animated holiday movie
The Dog Who Saved Christmas is a shamelessly derivative, predictable Christmas movie that really can't help but feel like the low-budget, made-for-TV movie that it is. It's a complete rip-off of other, and not to mention BETTER, Christmas movies. A lack of a joyous Christmas atmosphere is a real buzzkill and the cringe-worthy physical gags only lessen the fun.Although this review contains some major spoilers, I suggest you just read on. There's no reason for you to actually watch this (Willingly, that is).After Zeus, a former police-dog, loses his bark, he's sent to the pound (for reasons that are beyond me..) One day, he is adopted by George, a man in need of the security of a burly watch-dog with an intimidating bark. Of course, once he finds out that the dog is incapable of barking, him and his wife ponder taking him back to the pound. Before taking him back, they go to visit grandma for Christmas, and leave Zeus at home. As soon as they leave, two wacky, cartoonish villains break in and attempt to loot the house (for decorations, apparently). This is the perfect opportunity for Zeus to prove himself as a good watch dog. He sets up multiple booby traps and after about a half hour of the robbers goofing off and getting their ass handed to them by a dog, they are ultimately defeated. If you're thinking that this sounds an awful lot like Home Alone, but with a dog, you're right. The last half of the movie is an obvious rip-off and the writers made no attempt to hide it. In the end, the dog gets his bark back and the family decides to keep him. I bet you didn't see that one coming, did you? The stars of the film are people you've probably never heard of. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but when the acting is this terrible, it's probably best that it stays that way. Gary Valentine plays the role of George. His appearance, voice, and acting style are fairly similar to that of Kevin James, who I'm personally not a fan of, but if you are, you'll probably enjoy Valentine as well. The rest of the family's acting is subpar. The two robbers are probably the worst actors in the show. Their goofiness is too unbelievable and over-the-top.The script was terrible. With lines like "There better not be a dog in there! You know how I feel about dogs! I get panic attacks", it was far too literal and left nothing to the imagination. In fact, it kind of insults the viewer's intelligence. The style of humour is mostly slapstick physical gags with a few talking toilets and gassy fat guys mixed in. Although this doesn't personally tickle my funny-bone, I do realize that a sense of humour is subjective and everybody has different preferences. If this is your sense of humour, you're in for a blast; but if not, you'll hate this movie.The Dog Who Saved Christmas was a poor effort in basically every aspect. Horrendous acting, scripts, and humour detract from the overall quality, lowering the bar for the standards of made-for-TV movies. I really wouldn't recommend this to anyone, except people who are still in their diaper days.And you know what the sad thing is? Citizen Kane was on the other channel at the exact same time, but my cousins insisted on torturing me with The Dog Who Saved Christmas instead. :(
I wish I had. This movie is mindless drivel and toilet humor. It doesn't even deliver a very cute dog, and the main part of the movie is a second rate rip off of Home Alone. It felt like most of the actors didn't even care, and I can't say blame them. The mother character in the film seemed incapable of showing any real powerful emotion and came across as a heartless ice queen. A big question I had is, if the wife wanted an alarm, why couldn't they still keep the dog? Also if she was so convinced the dog was incapable of preventing a break in why would she let them leave it alone in the house on Christmas day! The mice are another annoyance, there pointless characters annoyingly voiced and there humor won't make anyone laugh over the age of 6. Still worse is the fact that there are objectionable scenes in the film for smaller children (theres a scene in the film where the fat criminal is talking about hurting the dog). Anyway I can think of no good reason to watch this as there are many good Christmas movies and even some other doggy ones out there, this one is better left unwatched.
Since this movie makes absolutely no effort in concealing it's a knock off of Home Alone, I guess you can let it get away with it. The only difference is, an ex K9 cop named Zeus takes the place of Kevin.Done on a low budget, and clearly aimed at dog lovers. It's upbeat and silly, and uses slapstick comedy in every scene. Some of the humor is middle school level and below: dog drinking from a toilet, a guy who passes gas a lot, and one character that's a poor man's annoying version of Fred Flintstone. The one scene that echoes the booby traps of Home Alone is fleeting; there's only so much a pup can do, after all. The baddies here are as dumb as the burglars from H. A.Acting isn't bad, considering how the characters are written. Mario Lopez's voice-over work for Zeus is OK, although the low budget only allows Zeus to be staring at somebody as we hear his thoughts. Oh, Zeus never barks, and the reason is predictable. But it doesn't matter that everything is obvious; this is just some playful silliness for its own sake. Fun enough for a viewing, if you're going to be home (alone or not).