Review: Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws

DVD: Santa Buddies * Official Site	On DVD: Nov. 24, 2009
Runtime: 88 minutes	Buy It: DVD / Blu-ray/DVD Combo
MPAA Rating: G	Gecko Rating:

They’re really milking everything they can out of these Buddies movies, aren’t they? But you know what? That’s ok. There’s a big audience for them, and even if they’re not the greatest movies in the world, they’re cute as all get out and kids love ‘em.

This one follows a familiar theme: People are losing sight of the true meaning of Christmas, and up at the North Pole, Santa and his trusty dog Santa Paws are worried that the Christmas icicle — the source of Christmas magic — is melting. You can kind of see where this is headed. Stick with me.

Meanwhile, Santa Paws’ young pup Puppy Paws can spread the word about the importance of Christmas to the younger generation, but he just wants to be a normal dog.

So he hitches a ride to Fernfield, Washington, and catches up with Budderball, B-Dawg, Rosebud, Mudbud, and Buddha to see what it’s like to be a normal dog. Puppy Paws is shocked that no one believes in Santa anymore. He also gets a rude awakening when Stan Cruge, the local dogcatcher, grabs him and locks him behind bars in the local pound. All the Buddies have to work together with a special dog named Tiny and an elf-dog from the North Pole to save Puppy Paws and re-ignite the town’s Christmas spirit.

More after the jump, including a super-cute scene…

Voice talent includes George Wendt as Santa (really, he’s still Norm from “Cheers”), as well as Christopher Lloyd, Josh Flitter, Zachary Gordon, and Kaitlyn Maher.

My kids are 12 and 15, so they sort of just laughed at the goofy storyline. But we loved it every time the dogs spoke and their little mouths moved (which is pretty much the entire movie). This is probably a good bet for kids aged 3 to 10 who love the other Buddies movies, and the message is good: Christmas is about giving, not getting. And even one person can make a difference.

Bonus features include three classic Christmas sing-along songs and Steve Rushton’s music video “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”

Here’s our favorite scene from the movie. It’s super-cute!

Images: Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. is a division of The Walt Disney Studios