2/5 Echoes of Disney, Christmas Past Dog Cute "Santa Buddies"
  by Anthony G Pizza (FL)
Colorful and frosted (if a touch sticky and stale) as hard ribbon candy, Robert Vince's "Santa Buddies - The Legend of Santa Paws" stars the popular talking golden retrievers in a sweet, quick-melting (88 minutes) Disney Christmas confection.

If the film has the feel of a Disney Channel TV movie (or a holiday "Wonderful World of Color") it's because the popular, precocious pups star with a Who's Who of 70s-80s sitcoms. Tom ("Happy Days") Bosley voices Santa Paws, Tim ("Carol Burnett Show") Conway kindly deputy dog Sniffer, and George ("Cheers")Wendt a fittingly fat, mostly jolly Santa Claus.

The plot scatters more than the pups as little rebel Puppy Paws (son of Santa Paws, Santa Claus' dog, stay with me) goes to Fernfield, Washington to escape his place in the snow circle of life and be more like a real pup(echoing "Pinocchio" and "Little Mermaid"). He's helped by Budderball, a buddy only wanting back on Santa's nice list after eating the Thanksgiving turkey. Together they help a hampered Santa deliver worldwide on Christmas Eve (shades of "Santa Clause") and restore weakening Christmas spirit. This is personified by drab portrayals of cynical, earthbound Santa and elf counteracted by "real elf" Eli (a fine Danny Woodburn), with magic icicles at the North Pole and around Puppy Paws' collar.

The "true meaning of Christmas spirit" advertised on the DVD's back cover doesn't stem from the icicles or from human voices stuffed down puppies' throats ("B-dawg" and "Buddha" only the most annoying). Christopher ("Taxi") Lloyd nearly (if not literally) steals the dog show as Fernfield's dog catcher Paul Cruge (rhymes with "Scrooge"). At first he's dressed dark as Freddy Krueger driving a 50-year old van to a decrepit pound, cynical as former TV boss Louis DePalma. But when he's lovingly attacked by puppies, meets a family in church then reads a child's pleading letter, Lloyd turns a cheesy echo of Christmas past into a real, pained person.

When puppy Tiny (who gets the film's only song) joins sickly boy Mikey on Christmas morning, when the buddies' owners pray for their pets' return and gleefully play with them when they do, you see the charm and love people feel for their dogs who, in their own way, talk with them. "Santa Paws" even concludes with a surprising version of a classic Christmas hymn. (DVD extras include the Buddies singing traditional holiday songs.)

"Santa Buddies" won't replace modern classic Christmas films ("Christmas Story," "Elf") which understand and subvert the season's cynicism in ways Disney by its mission cannot do. But puppies will always be cute, and when allowed to do so naturally "Santa Buddies" becomes a light, sweet Christmas treat for young children and dog lovers.


4/5 By no means a "classic" but younger children will enjoy it
  by Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas)

This is the latest in a series of Air Buddies films that includes Air Buddies (2006), Snow Buddies (2008), and Space Buddies (2009) as well as Santa Buddies. The five "buddies" visit the North Pole where Puppy Paws (son of Santa Paws) has become bored and restless. The major crisis involves a magical icicle that is melting as the world seems to be losing the Christmas spirit. Without any assistance from Al Gore, Puppy Paws and his friends rise to the challenge.

My rating is based on a compromise of two perspectives: My own as an adult who has seen all of Disney's films and judges each new one according to the high standards set by classics such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi (Three Stars), and, the perspective of children no older than six (Four Stars). Add another Star for the "bonus materials" and the production values (image and sound) and divide by two. (The two-disco "Combo Pack" really is quite a bargain, offering both DVD and Blu-ray HD plus 5.1 Dolby Digital sound.) Younger viewers will have favorite scenes they enjoy seeing again and again and again. (I can't think of one I am eager to see again.) The combination of adorable puppies, the North Pole, Santa Claus, and the spirit of Christmas creates an exceptionally pleasant experience for them but, at least in my opinion, much less so for adults.

One final point. Unsupervised younger children have easy access to what Robert Burns characterizes as "man's inhumanity to man" in his poem, From Man was made to Mourn: A Dirge, (1785). Although I do not consider Santa Buddies to be comparable with a number of Disney classics, it does have a quality of innocence that I find refreshing and consider commendable. I hope that leaders in the film industry will continue to have the courage as well as the talents to produce films that affirm traditional values rather than glorify and (at least by implication) condone violence in one form or another.

3/5 Blu-ray: Sure it's a bit campy for the adults but for the children, as long as they love it...that's all that matters!
  by Dennis A. Amith (kndy) (California)
The talking puppies are back! For those who have enjoyed the `Air Bud' and previous "Buddies" films... families, especially the young children will definitely enjoy this holiday film featuring the puppies in a Christmas adventure as they try to save Christmas in "Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws".

The Buddies are back and right on time for the holidays. These "Buddie" films are just so cute and enjoyable, family fun films with cute puppies that you can't get enough of.

Since the 1997 debut of the film "Air Bud", from that film of a talking canine has launched several "Buddie" films featuring the golden retriever puppies in "Air Buddies", "Snow Buddies", "Space Buddies" and now their fourth film titled "Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws". The Blu-ray release contains a Blu-ray and also a DVD for the film as well.

As with the previous "buddies" films, "Santa Buddies" reunites the golden retriever puppies (children of the original canine "Air Bud"):

Budderball: The athletic puppy

Rosebud: The female puppy of the group

Buddha: The puppy who likes to eat everything

B-Dawg: The hip hop loving, street talking puppy

Mudbud: The puppy who just can't get enough of getting himself dirty and muddy

In "Santa Buddies", both Santa Claus (played by George Wendt, "Cheers", "Sabrina the Teenage Witch) and Santa Paws worry about the weakening of Christmas Spirit. Many children and dogs who do not believe in Santa Claus are now weakening the magical power of Christmas and its causing problems in the North Pole. To make things worse, for some reason, the North Poe is starting to melt and the reindeer have all caught a flu.

Meanwhile, Santa Paws worries about his son Puppy Paws who has stopped believing in Christmas and leaves the North Pole without telling anyone after he sees a naughty list and sees a page of the buddy Budderbawl. Puppy Paws comes up with an idea to help Budderbawl get off the naught list if Budderbawl can teach him become a normal dog.

While Santa Claus and Santa Paws go to find the troublesome puppy, things continue to get worse as the North Pole. Elf Eli (played by Danny Woodburn, "Watchmen", "Passions") goes to retrieve the yearly Christmas mail from children and there are hardly any.

As Santa Claus, Santa Paus and the elves worry about Christmas Eve and people starting to not believe in Christmas anymore, Santa Paws meets up Budderbawl and tries to help him understand how Christmas and Santa is real. Budderbawl ends introduces Puppy Paws to the other buddies and each buddy tries to teach him how to behave like a normal dog as Puppy Paws teaches them the Christmas spirit.

The film then showcases the buddies in an adventure trying to save dogs that have been captured by the dog catcher Stan Cruge (played by Christopher Lloyd, "Back to the Future Films", "Stacked", "Taxi") and an adventure that leads Puppy Paws and new friends having to save Christmas.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws" is featured in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1 aspect ratio). Despite being a direct-to-video title, one thing that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is good at is making their films look great on Blu-ray. Picture quality showcases the Christmas colors of red and also warm colors of the holiday season. Colors are vibrant, the detail of Santa's white fur on his clothing to the dog's hair is well-detailed. Of course, there is CG utilized in the film beyond the mouth movements of the dogs as some special effects look quite low budget. There are some banding issues that I saw during the film but nothing that interferes with view. If anything, for a family film targeted towards children, picture quality is very good.

As for audio, the film is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD (48 kHz/24-bit), as well as French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. The lossless soundtrack is pretty much front and center channel driven as dialogue is clear and understandable while the Christmas music comes out nice and clear. This is not a film that has action sequences that utilize the whole soundscape, so for the most part, the audio is satisfactory for children.

Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

There are a few special features on this Blu-ray edition of "Santa Buddies" presented in 1080p, English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and subtitles in English SDH, French and Spanish. Included are:

* Sing Along to Christmas Carols With the Buddies - (3:29) The buddies sing "Santa Paws is Comin' to Town", "Deck the Halls" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" while karaoke style sing along lyrics show up on the bottom of the screen.
* "Santa Claus is Comin' To Town" Music Video - (3:29) A music video featuring Steve Rushton singing "Santa Claus is Comin' To Town".

JUDGMENT CALL:

I have watched the Buddy films alongside my son for several years now and for the most part, he has grown up watching these films and enjoying it.

"Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws" is definitely a film directed towards the children. For parents or teenagers, if they are dog lovers, they can probably enjoy the film and be entertained by the cuteness of the puppies and seeing the Disney magic at work and watch them talk.

I'm sure that young children will enjoy this film. In fact, the inclusion of the DVD along with the Blu-ray can definitely be useful during those long holiday commutes. But I will say that I was disappointed by the small amount of special features included with this release. "Space Buddies" featured fun facts, bloopers and even a game for the children. But this time, "Santa Buddies" only features a music video and a Christmas sing-along.

But that's the parent in me wanting a bigger bang for the buck. But in the end, children will find this latest adventure featuring the buddies probably as entertaining as my six-year-old son did and in the long run, I suppose that's all that matters.

Overall, "Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws" was family tested, child approved.

4/5 Any kid who loves dogs will adore this movie
  by Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA)
I just finsihed watching a preview copy of this and I believe that it will be a Christmas must film for any family with very small children. This is not a movie for adults. It is, I repeat, a movie for kids. (Though I know of dogs that enjoy watching dogs on TV, so perhaps it is also a movie for dogs and their owners. I do not have a dog, but I recently dog-sitted an absolutely magnificent German Shepherd -- Hi Lion! -- for a couple of weeks with my daughter. I noticed that he liked seeing dogs on TV, so this might have been something that he would have found fascinating.) I mean, what kid wouldn't flip out for a movie with talking puppies?

The story itself will make a Scrooge-hearted adult cringe a bit. I frankly didn't quite follow it. Somehow or other Puppy Paws, Santa Claus's puppy, who has fled to some town in Washington in an effort to be a regular puppy and gotten himself caught by pound owner Stan Crudge (Christopher Lloyd), must be found and returned to the North Pole or Christmas will be in danger. And there is something about a melting icicle in a cavern that also has to be saved so Christmas can be saved, though how this relates to Puppy Paws escapes me, though maybe this has something to do with the necklace around Puppy Paws's neck. But hey! This isn't about story. It is about cute talking puppies who are able to fly at the end pulling a sleigh that takes Puppy Paws back to the North Pole. And a poor kid who is sick and needs to a puppy to feel better (and gets the puppy named Tim). And when Santa's reindeer are unable to pull Santa's sleigh, the Buddies (from Robert Vince's various Bud and Buddie movies) step in and pull a smaller one, with Puppy Paws dropping down chimneys to deliver the toys, to save Christmas. And Tiny gets to sing a couple of songs.

Best scene: a Golden Retriever puppy and the all white dog (not sure of the breed) who plays Puppy Paws roll around in moist dirt, enter the house, go into an all white room, and get dirt over everything.

Look, adults are not going to like this (except in cases noted above). The plot is pretty hard to take (to the extent that it makes any sense at all) and it milks every emotion possible, but anyone who has had a small child or simply knows the taste of very young children (I'm talking ages 3 to 7) will recognize how they will get a kick out of this. So remember, this movie is all about the kids. And puppies.

This is another one of the Disney's dual packs, which contains both a DVD and Blu-ray copy of the film. I think this is a great idea. The one package is appropriate for any household. And if a kid watches this at home on Blu-ray can watch it on DVD if they take it over to a friend's house. Of if you watch it at home on Blu-ray, you can watch it on DVD in the car. I don't know how much longer Disney will keep this up, but it is a great idea.

3/5 Only giving it 3 stars because my 6-year old liked it
  by Manny Hernandez (Bay Area, CA)
I have a six-year old son, so the three stars the movie is getting are solely because of this: indeed he loved the movie and we probably will get a lot of mileage out of this movie simply because of that. However, as a critical movie watcher, I can also say this movie is very far from being the best Disney has put out or the best holiday movie you can show your kids.

The story line is VERY weak and, to even the most patient adults, it's not a movie you'd want to be trapped watching a Saturday morning. To provide some context, this is no Pixar movie, Tinker Bell or much less Bolt. This is sadly another Holiday movie that you can overlook without missing much.