The 12 Dogs Of Christmas Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
A girl who uses dogs to teach people about the true meaning of Christmas during the Depression.
| John Billingsley | Dogcatcher Doyle |
| Bonita Friedericy | Delores |
| Adam Hicks | Mike Stevens |
| Jim Jackman | Melvin |
| Eric Lutes | Coach Cullimore |
| Richard Riehle | Mayor Nobel Doyle |
| Mindy Sterling | Mrs. Walsh |
| Susan Wood | Cathy Stevens |
| Travis T. Flory | Denny Doyle |
| Alisha Mullally | Miranda |
| Jordan-Claire Green | Emma O'Conner |
| Monique Jeanine Lycette | Town Meeting speaker |
| Chris Burns | Salvation Army Caroler |
| Michael Howard | Old Jake |
| Kieth Merrill |
6.10 out of 10 (140 votes)
Visitor Reviews
A heart warming family movie!
posted on 03 Dec 2008My husband and I enjoyed watching The 12 Dogs of Christmas. Not only were we impressed with the vintage feel, character development and wonderful display of dogs we were impressed with Eric Lutes, my husbands brother who played the coach. The next morning we tested the movie on our 3 year old daughter. She and her 14 month old brother were totally delighted! Often she would gleefully shout out Uncle Eggie!, Uncle Eggie!I do hope folks spread the word about this endearing movie. Oh, our local Walmart in Vermont was sold out of the DVD's! Happy Holidays! ~The Lutes Family
Great Family Film
posted on 29 May 2008I loved the movie. It's great sometimes to be able to sit back and watch a good family squeaky-clean enjoyable film. Granted, the plot line is not very deep and the movie could be watched and understood by a five year old, but that's one of the things I enjoyed about it. A make-believe situation where dogs are not allowed in the town gave the movie an interesting and unique plot. I thought it was even more remarkable when I found out that the plot was written by a young child. Remarkable! The dog-catcher's bike was also very unique, reminded me of something out of Mad-Max. I also thought they did a good job with giving the movie a "vintage" feel/quality that matched the time period. Overall two thumbs up!
Above average direct-to-video family film
posted on 29 May 2008Every year there are several movies that pop up in stores that have the appearance of being quality family entertainment. Generally, most of them are disappointing at best. To my surprise, "The 12 Dogs of Christmas" isn't among the disappointments, though it does have its share of flaws.Young Emma's father leaves her with her aunt in a small town that has just outlawed dogs. In an act of heroism, she rescues a puppy from the town's maniacal dogcatcher, and finds that she has a deep-rooted for canines. Along the way, she befriends the town's supposedly crazy "dog lady" and her son, as well as the local coach, a Russian dog-sledder and her initially angry aunt. In the process, she also makes enemies of the mean-spirited dogcatcher and his brother, the town's mayor. Yes, some of the characters are cookie-cutter, and the results are more than predictable. However, the movie uses the characters' -- and the viewers' -- love for dogs to bring about some very warm and pleasant results.After viewing, we realized we enjoyed this movie enough to add this DVD to our holiday collection. I recommend it in the best spirit of a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
A Family Movie in the Grand Tradition
posted on 17 Apr 2008I'm old, and I don't mind admitting it. I remember when family movies were made by Disney, and they had story lines that kids and parents could watch together without embarrassment or fear, and which were just plain old simple entertainment. Somehow somewhere along the track Hollywood slipped off the rails and decided that little kids needed to hear naughty words, and parents wouldn't take their kids to a show if they couldn't see some at least some implied sex. WRONG!!! Kieth Merrill seems to have remembered. Here is a story where the bad guys are bad, but on a level that kids can cope with, and the good guys are good, but on a matching level. Folks like I know and live around. The protagonist boy and girl are nice kids, they don't kiss, they don't even get romantic. The school marm looks a bit like Lily Tomlin, and is just the right level of taught and nasty, and redeems herself at the end. The mayor is pompous and stuffy, and comes around in the end too.It is all wonderful fluff, with dogs that behave a lot of the time, and don't, just enough of the time, to make the film extra believable. The camera work and acting are outstanding. I have no hesitation in recommending this film to any family anywhere for watching together as a family. Please buy it and thumb your nose at the "experts" in Hollywood who just don't "get" it that nice clean family fun like this is worth making, and has a market.
$2 million budget got this vanity project out in Video Stores
posted on 08 Jan 2008My wife recently bought this at Wal*Mart and it is her kind of family movie -- I can't recommend it however since I feel it makes no real connection to the period shown or to the subject of the American family (past, present, or idealized). The recognizable actor (John Billingsley) from TV (ENTERPRISE STAR TREK) is placed into silly situations that just don't add up; a much better period film of this era of American history is the award-winning PLACES IN THE HEART in which film consumers could feel that real emotions were being portrayed. Here we have school-age children getting to practice a carol with live animals on a stage that just doesn't fit for the impoverished Doverville School District. Also unbelievable is the "fact" that towns just do NOT forbid dog ownership - - in no part of America that I know of at least and government regulation to such ends were never tolerated, to my sense and sensibilities. If you are seeking information about this title, let this one go and borrow the much more family-friendly title PRANCER with a child lead actress who comes across much more as a human being!
It Will Steal Your Heart
posted on 23 Dec 2007The 12 Dogs Of Christmas will steal your heart, It stole my heart. I really loved this movie and I loved the way Jordan-Clare Green played 12 year old Emma O'Conner. She is a wonderful actress. 14 year old Emma Kragen wrote this story and I have to say she did a wonderful job.This is the kind of movies I love to watch, there is no bad words in the movie. Little Kids and the whole family will love this movie. I love the part where Emma tells a crook to give her the dog and he gives her a funny look and she gets mad and kicks him and gets the dog. I also love the part while the pageant is going on, where Emma asked the main crook what he done with the dogs after he let them out to mess up the pageant. It was funny the way he said I let them out for a little walkie, and Emma kicks him in the leg and takes his cat. Watching that whole pageant was great with the kids and dogs. There is a lot of funny stuff in The 12 Dogs Of Christmas that everyone will enjoy. I almost let The 12 Dogs Of Christmas pass me by, I had a wonderful feeling that it was going to be great, and my feelings was wright, I am so happy that I purchased the DVD to this movie and I know other people and kids will love it too. Don't let The 12 Dogs Of Christmas movie pass you by because if you do, you are going to be missing out on a wonderful, fun loving, holiday family movie that will steal, and warm your heart. This will be a holiday tradition for me to watch this movie every year at Christmas time. I love it.I want to thank everyone that was in on making The 12 Dogs Of Christmas possible. It has really touched my heart.
dog gone BAD
posted on 15 Jan 2007This review is all over the place.The film is seriously awful. I can't believe that anyone who didn't not the cast or live in the town could find this anything more.I found it exploitive - it didn't exploit dogs directly but those who may chose to watch this because of the dogs. Who knew you could be more exploitive than Disney? Or have a final worse than the CBC? Maybe you, not me. The acting was poor with the exception of "The Dog Lady", the quality of the filming was as poor and the dog fights were so unbelievably unrealistic (thankfully so) to make this nothing but turgid and make me nothing but angry.
Waste of time
posted on 09 Feb 2006This was the worst movie I've seen since the Pokiman films (which I was forced to go to by my kids). The script was terrible. In summary, a little girl is sent to live with a woman who hates her father's guts (but still lets her stay) and teaches a town to love dogs by putting on a play with dogs. Huh? I actually felt bad for the actors having to say these lines (especially the guy who played the coach who could only use sports terms with the kids). What was the deal with the guy who drove the motorcycle for the dog catcher? And why is it when the girl tries to get away from the dog catcher, she literally WALKS past him, and he has to run and chase her. This is a good alternative to "Full House" reruns to keep your kids busy for 90 minutes. Otherwise, save your money.
A good family film
posted on 14 Aug 2009Our family watched this film and we just enjoyed the film. It is a good film for dog lovers. At first when we picked up the film from the rental store there was only 3 copies. at first I thought that this was a sign that this is a bad film. But I was so surprised that there was not more copies available to the public. There are very few family movies out there for people to view. I think the principal from the school reminded me of a famous actor who played the telephone operator in a old comedy series. And also the Aunt played a good role. Our favorite person who played a very small role was the little girl in the end who sang the part about a poodle in a dog house. You will know what I mean if you watch the film.