Charming and brutal

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

I have tagged this spoilers although I haven't given much away that wasn't either early in the movie, or pretty obvious.A beautiful sweet almost teen girl and a dog, how can you go wrong? And it was nice. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen a story setup like this.I was a little distracted by the ambiguity of what was the right thing to do in the early part of the movie. Many critics have gone overboard in their criticism. Yes Mark and Emma struggled. Who doesn't sometimes struggle with doing the right thing? Instead of my first knee-jerk reaction which was to be appalled, as the story developed I realized this was a very realistic struggle. The one valid criticism is how quickly the shelters passed the dog along to the point of adoption. That is irresponsible, but the explanation was that they were all over-crowded. A little lame maybe.But there were no bad guys in this movie. Sally was very gracious even in her struggle that they might not give Buddy back. Emma was an unselfish and kind young lady when she realized what she had to do. I say pretty good for her age. And Dad was patient, avoiding any rash irreversible decision. The acting was very good. I have seen Teri Polo only once before but I am starting to really respect her acting, especially in these heartwarming stories. She is especially good with little girls. She has a great nurturing spirit. Both she and Jordyn Ashley Olson had to deal with their characters' difficult emotions and the emotional struggle of potential loss heaped on top of a history of a lost loved one. Olson managed to show how attached she was, yet made her choice real. Olson was also great in the rest of the story. Martin Cummins was also great as his character dealt with the moral dilemma vs protecting his daughter. Ace, the dog actor, was superbly trained. He managed some complicated maneuvers.This is quite simply a wonderful and touching Christmas movie that doesn't have a ton of Christmas clichés piled up. It is compelling and real.

Most of these Hallmark stories are not for rocket scientists but are just pleasant holiday fare. And I always see mistakes. This movie was supposedly set in Massachusetts and its environs. The woman lived an hour from Boston. But when they were "in town" buying a Christmas tree you could see huge sheer cliffs and ocean in the background. Clearly NOT Massachusetts. I wish the producers would give viewers more credit for intelligence and pay more attention to details like this. My other objection is that the credits at the end are squished into about a #2 font so that you cannot read them. This is the fault of the network. I like to see location and music credits and even some of the other actors' names but it is impossible when they reduce the credits to practically nothing. Many of the channels do this and I find it frustrating.

I have just spent a rainy afternoon watching a set of Hallmark Xmas movies. Some were good, and some were quite bad. This one was enjoyable. I liked how realistic it was about dating and being older and alone and what a hassle it is to try to 'date". Then the fear a person can feel when they meet someone. It was very respectful to the spouses who were no longer with them. It was a lighthearted, well acted sweet movie. The two lead actors and the kid where all very good. Of course the dog was good too. It kept away from the corniness that many movies like this tend to lapse into. If you want to watch a feel good, slightly romantic sweet movie, that also has a realistic more "quiet" ending, this is a good one.

As a dog owner, I really disliked the premise of this movie. In short, a woman's dog runs away in a storm, and the man who find the dog decides to adopt him as a way to comfort his daughter who is still dealing with the loss of her mother from 2 years ago. After the owner of the dog finally tracks down her dog after about 14 days, the new owners give her grief and decide that they aren't going to give the dog back, and somehow "love" evolves out of this. I truly dislike the selfish father and daughter who feel as though their 2 weeks with a dog trumps the 5 years that this woman had with her dog who clearly misses her. Eventually the girl stops being so selfish, but I truly disliked the entitled attitude that consumed the first half of this movie.