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Abigail Hawk, Chevy Chase, David O’Donnell, Howard Hesseman, Zack Ward, Gerald Webb, Ben Giroux, Meredith Thomas, Mary-Kate O’Connell

Riley Thomas (Abigail Hawk) is an up-and-comer at her retail conglomerate, but her boss, Preston Bullock (Chevy Chase) sends her to Vermont to close down one of their subsidiaries OutWear, just a few days before Christmas. But things change as she begins to get to know the employees, especially the manager Wyatt Davis (David O’Donnell) who is very handsome and good looking, and Nick Harper (Howard Hesseman) who is the former owner of the company. As she learns the importance of the small company to the life of the town, and gets closely involved with Wyatt, it’s becoming harder and harder to do the task she was sent up there to perform.

Another in a slew of Christmas movies based on the little company supports the whole town and they have a long history in a sweet town that is full of the holiday spirit, but when the evil parent company sends the boy/girl to shut them down, the person falls in love with the little town and tries to find a way to fix it. Yeah I admit there are decades full of these stories. But this one has a couple extras that make it unique. First is Chevy Chase who plays the evil company boss who wants to shut them down and turn a profit on selling the scraps. Chevy is a special kind of actor who is able to spit out the one liners without any effort and with no reaction which is hysterical. He also has sarcastic wit that resonates with me quite a bit. Chevy has a small role, but has some really funny moments. Then there’s another guy who’s much the same in the kind of humor he has, and that’s Howard Hesseman. You’ll remember him from WKRP in Cincinnati, and he is also a pleasure to watch. His performance in “Crazy for Christmas” has been shown year after year after year on TV. In this film, he is the guy who started the little company years ago and who pops back in to try to save his original vision. He also adds a lot of fun to the movie. All in all it is very entertaining and much better that I ever expected it to be. The leads in the cast are pretty good, and hold the film together and keep it moving. It’s a nice little film and well worth adding to your watch list.

Here is the ION Television web page for this film.

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Walt Disney Home Entertainment, Keystone Entertainment, Santa Buddies Productions

Craig Anton, Andrew Astor, Charisse Baker, Tom Bosley, Field Cate, Tim Conway, Chris Coppola, Josh Flitter, Nico Ghisi, Ben Giroux, Skyler Gisondo, Zachary Gordon, Ryan Grantham, Ellie Harvie, Richard Kind

Santa’s in trouble.  The North Pole Icicle is melting because Christmas spirit is waning.  Santa needs help because it’s gotten so bad that Santa’s reindeer can’t even get off the ground anymore.  But the buddies will help.  Santa Paws recruits the buddies to pull a doggie sleigh and deliver the presents themselves.  But they also need to improve the Christmas spirit as well or Santa is out of business.

George Wendt appears as Santa, and he’s one of the best, but Christopher Lloyd appears as a greedy mean dog catcher who will only place dogs if someone can cough up the $300.00.   Changing him will be the biggest challenge.  This is a kiddie movie, like the other Bud movies.  Adults may find it a little silly and the cgi is really cheesy, but for kids, it’s going to be magic.  Truly, if you need a couple hours peace and quiet,  put the kids in front of the TV and put this on!   Or better yet, watch it with them.  And if you’re a fan of any of the other films, or are a big dog lover, these dogs are really cute and cuddly.  So it’s a harmless cool kiddie film about how the dogs saved Christmas.  Just kick back and enjoy.

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