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Review of A Dog Named Christmas (2009) by screenqueeen: 👍 4/5

i'm sorry but this is incredible filmmaking. Noel Fisher manages to be endearing and invitingly humorous despite being given a role that on paper would have steered me away from this altogether. Bruce Greenwood surprisingly does not phone this one in despite how his character (and his wife's) think that Christmas is a great name for a dog, brandishes a double barrel shotgun and has the most male-repressed military flashbacks about a dog he had when he was a kid and a separate one that was rescued when he was in Vietnam*?? the way he shakes awake after each flashback is kind of like he's dreaming as a dog would. as this movie is structured day by day during december it made me feel like he was processing trauma DECADES late (as men are wont to do), buried so deep solely because there was a dog??? OH and there's a sequence where everyone is woken in the middle of the night as Christmas leads the family to a COUGAR THAT ATTACKS THEM and retreats into the barn, Christmas the dog paw to paw barking like a mf at it until shotgun-armed Bruce (a different one) doesn't even snap the barrels to the backstock to approach it and yell at the top of his lungs at it. it is never mentioned and the cougar is assumedly still running around somewhere nearby -- easily my favorite sequence.

also when Todd goes to pick out his dog we not only have a supporting cast of canine extras but a FULL ROSTER of supporting characters with names and real screentime, in some cases getting their own rescue arc.

ofc every once in a while something is said or shown that will make you exclaim something about it either being unbelievable or absolutely incredible (they're the same picture) as per usual from something hoisted into the hallmark hall of fame. this is also surprisingly subdued on the holiday fluff for a hallmark christmas movie and as such i would DOG-ear it for company that isn't too fond of aggressive holiday cheer. you cannot lose with this if you are already in the mood for hallmark bs.

*in a similar development to how Hellboy was found and then joined the WWII soldiers in HELLBOY and the comics it's 'loosely' based on

**DOG SOLDIERS