Nine Dog Christmas

Rating:
Summary: caNINE holiday fun.
Review: I was surprised to find a new holiday moving starring canines that I hadn't yet heard of; clearly, it was brand new and had made its way silently onto shelves. Somehow, it struck me as being a cartoon movie worth seeing and not a cheesey disappointment. I was right. The DVD features are surprisingly good; a music video, game, instructional holiday crafts video for kids, and a particularly nice segment on the dog breeds represented in the movie as well as mixed breeds comprise the features. The story, although geared toward younger viewers, is unique enough and clever enough to make 'Nine Dog Christmas' suitable for almost any viewer.

I found the characters of the movie to be in many ways similar to previously known canine characters. In fact, the movie reminded me of a six-way cross among "Homeward Bound 2," "All Dogs go to Heaven 2," "Oliver and Company," "Lady and the Tramp," "101 Dalmatians," and "Nick and Noel." It's not that the movie is simply a conglomeration of these and hasn't got a style all its own. It's simply that MacGreggor, the Scottie, strongly brings to mind Jock of "Lady and the Tramp." Snowplow, the Old English sheepdog, resembles both Nick from "Nick and Noel" and the Colonel from "101 Dalmatians." Further, the Chihuahua Cheech is like Tito of "Oliver and Company." Almost as though cousins of these dogs were now starring in their own film. The other dogs are great; Chester the Boxer is perhaps the funniest. No Name is a lovable old dog obsessed with going 'home' and never realizes that he hadn't had a real home until Santa gave him one. Fetch is a hyper hound, and Tank is cute and one of the main characters. Q.T. is the pretty girl who falls in love with Tank rather quickly; the fantasy scene between those two is quite unexpected but fun. Frenchy the Bull Terrier might be the best character because he is the most multi-faceted. He's complex, interesting, and somewhat gruff, and does change sides during the film. On the whole, though, the dogs seem to be quite 'Disney-esque.'

The songs, especially the Tank/Q.T. one (which reminded me of Audrey's 'Somewhere that's Green' number from 'Little Shop of Horrors' because it involves dreaming of that sort of perfect home with someone else), and the song between elves Buzz and Agnes Anne, are not half bad. Where do I find the most fault with this movie? Without a doubt: its length. I felt it could have been made much longer without losing the audience's interest. In fact, had the story been elaborated, it would have drawn an audience in even more effectively. An hour just passes for 'full length,' but I thought it could have stood to be even longer. Still, 'Nine Dog Christmas' did impress me as one of the better little holiday cartoon movies of late. Clever and entertaining, it focuses on the holiday in general (in a way anyone could appreciate), and also doesn't beat the usual kids-movie morals to death. It finds its own way to get messages across. All in all 'Nine Dog Christmas' is awesome for children but has good enough dialogue (and, let's face it, cute enough dogs and music and such) for everybody.