Alchemist Productions, Ken Kragen Productions
John Billingsley, Bonita Friedericy, Adam Hicks, Jim Jackman, Eric Lutes, Richard Riehle, Mindy Sterling, Susan Wood, Travis Flory, Alisha Mullally, Jordan-Claire Green
During the depression, Emma O’Connor (Jordan-Claire Green) is asked by her father, who is struggling, to live with an Aunt in a small town where the mayor has just outlawed dogs. Her “Aunt” doesn’t want her, and she rescues a stray dog and rescues him from the dogcatcher. Emma makes friends with the town’s crazy dog lady who lives just out of town, and uses the magic of Christmas and the love of the dogs to teach the town the true meaning of the season.
This is a surprisingly good family film that has a lot of things going for it. Jordan-Claiare does a great job as the Little Orphan Annie character who wins you over in the first few minutes. She, like a lot of youngsters did during the rough days of the depression, hated her situation, but gritted her teeth and made the very best of it that she could. THe mayor was a bit over the top with his evil “grinchness”, and his brother, the dogcatcher took his character straight from the bumbling thugs in 101 Dalmations for sure. But most kiddie films have their share of silly shoved in to please the kids. The dogs are stars too. How can you dislike a good doggie movie? So all in all, this is a very worthwhile family oriented Christmas film that is well worth checking out.
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