The holiday season is here, which means Netflix has a whole litany of holiday-themed films to get us in the spirit. Starting with A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, this festive tale is wholesome, if a bit underwritten. Based on the novel of the same name by W. Bruce Cameron, you do not need to worry about anything happening to the cute furry critters narrating throughout (trust me, I checked before diving in myself). While the story is what you might expect from this genre, down to threadbare characterization and a baffling “perfect” end, it’s still enough to warm the heart. Mostly helped by the cuteness of the pups.
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas opens with an introduction to Winstead (Thomas Haden Church) in his earlier years. His voiceover gives a dog’s point of view on his family, or pack, as he calls them, in their better years, fleshing out their relationship dynamics before sadness falls on the family. His father, Sander (Dennis Quaid), is deeply in love with his wife, Barbara (Rebecca Staab), and together, the three of them are thick as thieves. The bond between Winstead and Sander grows even closer once Barbara passes on, but grief is hard to shake.
Sander and Winstead move in with Sander’s son, Hunter (Milo Ventimiglia), a workaholic whose barely involved at home with his family. Instead, his wife, Juliana (Kathleen Rose Perkins), is juggling a set of toddler twins, her emotionally volatile teenage daughter, Ello (Brooke Lena Johnson), her job, keeping Sander fed, and household responsibilities. This eventually leads to her getting severely sick, putting her in the hospital right before the holidays, and forcing Sander and Ello, in particular, to step out of their funk to take care of things.
Winstead’s point of view never overpowers what’s going on in A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, for better or worse.
Despite the dogs being central to the title, Winstead, and the later addition of Ruby, never detract from the bigger drama happening outside the dogs’ purview. In fact, A Dog’s Perfect Christmas almost places the dogs on the back burner as the human storylines take over. With Sander’s reckoning with grief, Ello dealing with the half-baked teen friendship drift, and Juliana’s extreme health care emergency forcing the family to get it together, there’s a lot going on.
Yet, for all these dramas in A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, the film offers little characterization to give this family much oomph beyond their respective roles. Dennis Quaid’s Sander is peak grumpy old man, and brief expositional bits with a litany of older widowed women (with Winstead remarking on their own pack behavior mentalities) and in his heart-to-heart moments with Ello give him at least something to work with.
Similarly, Ello struggles to find footing because the barely-there meal-girl drama sprinkled in drives up her angst. Whether it was the direction, an acting choice, or both, Brooke Lena Johnson plays Ello too one-note as an angry teen at the beginning. However, as Ello finds a new friendship-turned-romance with her father’s superior’s son (say that three times fast), Sean (Ethan Loomis), and gets to know Sander more, Johnson finds a comfortable place for her performance.
The romance sparking between Ello and Sean could have (and should have) been its own film.
Strangely enough, the brief bits of romance between Ello and Sean had just enough potential to draw more focus, but the film seems almost afraid to dive deeper. Much like the sideplots in A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, brief vignettes of time are dedicated to give just a little taste, leaving little room for moments to feel earned and to linger. It’s a shame, really, because these moments help holiday movies (and those in a similar tonal vein) find their legs and develop longevity.
What is incredibly memorable, and likely the main reason to watch the film, are the incredibly adorable dogs onscreen. The tricks and antics across various dog performers add the right touch of cuteness to trigger anyone’s cute aggression. And once Ruby gets added to the mix, it is nearly impossible not to die from the emotional overload these little guys bring.
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas is anything but perfect, but its more joyful tone keeps things light.
For all Winstead’s cuteness, though, Thomas Haden Church’s voiceover delivery is quite stagnant. There’s an awshucks quality that works with the basset hound breed, but the dog’s inner voice has no range, making it easy to tune out. In fact, the three dogs who portray Winstead add more life and personality than what Church muster. It’s a shame because the dialogue lends itself to having fun with it. Church just never gets there.
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas is anything but perfect, and it doesn’t take the time to go deeper with the human and dog characters we see onscreen. Still, the lighter tone keeps the film from getting too dark (and boy, did it have multiple opportunities to take things to darker places), and the uplifting ending makes it a welcome viewing despite its imperfections. For more cute dogs, watch all the way through the credits for a behind-the-scenes glimpse and an extra touch of joy.
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas
6/10
TL;DR
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas is anything but perfect, and it doesn’t take the time to go deeper with the human and dog characters we see onscreen. Still, the lighter tone keeps the film from getting too dark, and the uplifting ending makes it a welcome viewing despite its imperfections.