Christmas with Tucker (2013)

Disregard 6 of the 7 bad reviews on this movie. It was an excellent movie with excellent characters and story. Story was based on a book which gives the movie some depth. I only give about 10% of the movies a perfect 10, but this one had that special quality.James Brolin at age 73 as the grandpa. It was just perfect. He played in Marcus Welby at about age 30. In 2016 he was in "I'll be home for Christmas". In this film he has that tough John Wayne presence. At the end of the film a great confrontation with a bad guy- great drama. The grandson was excellent and was the main character with his affection for Tucker the dog. The grandma actually played the grandma on "The Road to Christmas" 2006. She was great in this role, so pleasant. The friend was played by Olivia from Heartland. We also see Dr Crane and Dr Hebert from Doc.This movie had that special bond between boy and dog as well as proud grandparents. The story showed how the boy was building character. In one part the grandpa told him he had to give up Tucker. Now that was a complete surprise, but the drama was intense. Definitely worth the watch.

Other reviews complain about the (alleged) wooden acting, and poor script, and predictability. Surely no one watches Hallmark-type Christmas films for the adventure or suspense. They are meant to be heartwarming celebrations of good will and the broad meaning of Christmas. This film does not disappoint, but its limitations need to be accepted. SPOILER ALERT I will try to explain why this is a good Christmas film for the family by outlining the story. The story begins in "the present" but quickly jumps back to 10 years earlier. Occasional vice-over narrative fills some of the gaps and adds commentary. A boy (about 12, in the main narrative of the flashback) is living in rural Kansas (actually filmed in Canada) with his grandparents at Thanksgiving, several months after his father was killed in a freak accident. The boy's mother has not coped well with the loss of her husband. She has gone to live in Minnesota with her older daughters who are at college. A neighbor who has a dubious past is convicted of drink-driving again, and put in gaol. The grandparents agree to help him by looking after his dog, who, usually, is left in the front yard of the man's house, with nothing to do except bark wildly at the passing yellow school bus. But as soon as the boy and dog see each other the dog shows his good nature and pleasure at having company and play. The dog seems to have no name, so, when he is seen all tuckered out after romping with the boy, he is named "Tucker". But then the neighbor is released and he takes back his dog. The boy is sad, but this was inevitable. Meanwhile the boy decides to ask the neighbor if he can have the dog for himself. The neighbor refuses, curtly. The boy's charming girl bus-companion points out that you can't get something for nothing, so the boy scrapes some money together, with the girl's eager contribution (she says she had been saving her pocket-money to put herself through law school: she is a delight, but without subtitles is often hard to follow in her soft fast speaking.) As snowing increases the grandfather (a dairy farmer) has extra duties as a snow-plow driver, keeping roads clear, safe, and drive-able. To cope with the heavy snow he trains the boy to use the snow-plow. This includes checking that neighbors are OK in the bad weather. The boy discovers the neighbor with the dog is "ill" and the boy is asked to get some "medicine" from an even nastier neighbor who lives in a trailer (caravan). This is obviously moonshine alcohol, but the boy only guesses at the murky jars he collects and delivers. Then on the next welfare visit he finds that the neighbor is comatose. The boy calls his grandmother by radio, and she calls an ambulance. The moonshine was a bad brew and seriously toxic and the man nearly died. Meanwhile Tucker had, as usual, been left outside, and nearly froze. Again, while the neighbor is in hospital, the boy looks after the dog, and when the neighbor is discharged from hospital, the grandfather tells the neighbor (rather abruptly, and on no official authority) they will keep the dog. But so far only the boy knows he delivered the moonshine, and where it came from. His conscience is troubled. Worse still, the bootlegger threatens him and the dog if he tells anyone what happened. When, guiltily, the boy confesses his part in getting the moonshine, his grandfather thinks (rather harshly) that this is a bad act, and insists that the dog goes back to the neighbor. Meanwhile we learn, as the boy finds some old photos of his father when he was a young man, that his father and the neighbor had been friends and had been naughty young men, occasionally. But the father had given up his bad behavior, and the neighbor had got worse. Eventually, the whole family comes together for Christmas. The mother realizes she had run away from memories of her husband at the farm, and that her older daughters are independent of her in their Minnesota college, so she will stay at the farm – which the boy had just asked her if he could also do. And, when the repentant neighbor visits on Christmas Day he gives Tucker to the boy, with the grandfather's approval, partly because the neighbor is turning over a new leaf and will be taking a job that will keep him away from his home for long times. Overall, the film is predictable, sentimental, occasionally annoying (the grandfather's high principles are too tough on the naive and well-meaning boy, and high-handed when he deals with the neighbor – but to some extent that reflects his age, and his grandparent and parent role within the story), but thoroughly satisfying. The whole story is told in flashback, from 10 years after encountering the dog, and at the end we see how, 10 years later, the family has progressed, all very positively. Well made, and (for me) touchingly acted, despite the predictability. Indeed, predictability in some films is part of their charm.

Looking forward to a new Xmas movie. Especially one involving saving an animal as people need to learn, understand. Treatment of animals needs to change, improve. Abuse needs severe consequences. Enjoyed all until the one moment when an intelligent, grounded guy tells his grandson to give the dog back to a guy known to be abusing him, who left him out in the cold to die. Seriously?! where's the understanding, support. The writer and producer should know this makes no sense what so ever. No one would act like this in any way knowing this young boy had no idea what he had been asked to do. he wanted to save the dog. Stupid writing. The Xmas movies are getting to campy, stupid. Let's get it together.

This is a typical Hallmark movie but with a high sap level. Story is OK but fairly predictable. I did watch the whole movie, but wasn't much impressed with the acting. Best actor was "Tucker".The story is basically a 10 year retrospective look at the way the dog "Tucker" came to be part of the McCray family at Christmastime; hence the title for the movie.The writing and acting for this film was, in my opinion, much below the quality of a far better Hallmark presentation such as any of the "Good Witch" movies. I've come to expect a certain degree of sappiness in any of the Hallmark movies, but this movie was a little over the top. On the plus side, like all Hallmark movies, its a wholesome family film with a positive message to share.