ARO Entertainment,
Dean Cain, Elisa Donovan, Gary Valentine, Jack Scalia, Joey Diaz, Joey Lawrence, Michael Gross, Peyton List, Shelley Long
Zeus (Joey Lawrence) is back with his family who are off on vacation to sunny California to spend Christmas with Aunt Barbara (Shelly Long). The Bannister family has a new addition this year when Aunt Barbara gives them a puppy named Eve (Peyton List) who manages to make life miserable for Zeus and get him banned to a kennel in the garage. But when two bumbling thieves show up Zeus and Eve have to work together to save the family Christmas.
This is one of a series of movies (the third Christmas one) starring the Bannisters and their dog Zeus, so the characters are pretty well developed. It’s not a horrible film, but it’s very, very predictable. (Why are there always two bumbling thieves, not one or three?). This is taken straight from the 101 Dalmations, passed on to Home Alone, and then used by dozens of other films, mostly Christmas films. Kids will probably enjoy it, but it’s just not that good, I’m afraid. The dogs that think out loud….they seem to hear and respond to each other, but the talk via some kind of telepathy I guess, is getting annoying. It comes over as a doggie narrator telling us what the actors(?) are thinking. But Zeus is a cutie, and Eve is mischievous enough to steal your heart while she driving Zeus nuts. This is classic Disney where the Pluto is trying to do right, and the new animal is constantly framing him for all the bad things that happen. Not the most fabulous Christmas film, but it’s on par with the first two and with others like the Beethoven and Air Bud movies, I suspect.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
** The Dog Who Saved the Holidays (2012),
