Santa Buddies
Disney s irresistible talking puppies return in a heartwarming all-new holiday adventure! Take a fantastic journey with your beloved Buddy friends to the magical world of the North Pole! Join The Buddies (Budderball, B-Dawg, Rosebud, Buddha and Mudbud) in a wonderfully wacky twist on a classic Christmas favorite. When Puppy Paws, the fun-loving son of Santa Paws, gets tired of the North Pole, he finds Budderball on Santa s naughty list and figures he s just the dog to show him how to be an ordinary pup. But when the magical Christmas Icicle starts to melt and the world begins to forget the true meaning of the season, it s up to Puppy Paws and his newfound Buddies to save Christmas. Unleash a stocking full of Christmas cheer for you and your family with this fun-filled film, featuring never-before-seen bonus material. It s sure to be a holiday favorite on everyone s wish list!Bonus Features:Buddies Christmas Carol Sing Along, and more. Christmas spirit is waning around the globe, and people are losing sight of the real meaning of Christmas. Up at the North Pole, Santa and his trusty dog Santa Paws are alarmed because the Christmas icicle, which is the source of Christmas magic, is melting. Even scarier is the fact that only Santa Paws’s young pup Puppy Paws can spread the word about the importance of Christmas spirit to the new generation, but all he wants to do is be a normal dog. After looking at the naughty list, Puppy Paws hitches a ride to Fernfield, Washington, to catch up with Budderball and participate in what he perceives to be a more normal life. Budderball, B-Dawg, Rosebud, Mudbud, and Buddha all take a turn hosting Puppy Paws, but he doesn’t seem to quite fit in with any one of them. While in Fernfield, Puppy Paws is shocked by the widespread disbelief in Santa Claus and Santa Paws as well as by the general lack of holiday spirit. He also gets a rude surprise when dogcatcher Stan Cruge grabs him and locks him behind bars in the local pound. It takes all of the Buddies working together with a special dog named Tiny and an elf-dog from the North Pole to save Puppy Paws and reignite the town’s Christmas spirit, but will it be enough to save Christmas around the world? Santa Buddies features some nice songs and a good message, but the fully animated segments (especially those with the reindeer) are poorly rendered and give the production a low-budget, even amateurish feel. The film focuses more on the new Puppy Paws character than on the old Buddies gang, but brief scenes of Budderball gorging himself, Mudbud tracking dirt all over the house, B-Dawg dancing, Rosebud preening, and Buddha meditating are all viewers really need in this fourth Buddies film. While Santa Buddies may not be the most stimulating adult fare, children ages 3 to 10 will enjoy it while absorbing a sense that Christmas is about giving, not getting, and that one person can change the lives of many. Voice talent includes George Wendt, Christopher Lloyd, Josh Flitter, Zachary Gordon, and Kaitlyn Maher. Bonus features include three classic Christmas sing-along songs and Steve Rushton’s music video “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. ” –Tami Horiuchi
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Tags: BUDDIES, Santa
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5 Responses to “Santa Buddies”
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Thats all there is to it. They are just getting way to stupid and unoriginal. They might be good for 2 or 3 years olds, but thats about it.
Rating: 1 / 5
Colorful and frosted (if a touch sticky and stale) as hard ribbon candy, Robert Vince’s “Santa Buddies – The Legend of Santa Paws” stars the popular talking golden retrievers in a sweet, quick-melting (88 minutes) Disney Christmas confection.
If the film has the feel of a Disney Channel TV movie (or a holiday “Wonderful World of Color”) it’s because the popular, precocious pups star with a Who’s Who of 70s-80s sitcoms. Tom (”Happy Days”) Bosley voices Santa Paws, Tim (”Carol Burnett Show”) Conway kindly deputy dog Sniffer, and George (”Cheers”)Wendt a fittingly fat, mostly jolly Santa Claus.
The plot scatters more than the pups as little rebel Puppy Paws (son of Santa Paws, Santa Claus’ dog, stay with me) goes to Fernfield, Washington to escape his place in the snow circle of life and be more like a real pup(echoing “Pinocchio” and “Little Mermaid”). He’s helped by Budderball, a buddy only wanting back on Santa’s nice list after eating the Thanksgiving turkey. Together they help a hampered Santa deliver worldwide on Christmas Eve (shades of “Santa Clause”) and restore weakening Christmas spirit. This is personified by drab portrayals of cynical, earthbound Santa and elf counteracted by “real elf” Eli (a fine Danny Woodburn), with magic icicles at the North Pole and around Puppy Paws’ collar.
The “true meaning of Christmas spirit” advertised on the DVD’s back cover doesn’t stem from the icicles or from human voices stuffed down puppies’ throats (”B-dawg” and “Buddha” only the most annoying). Christopher (”Taxi”) Lloyd nearly (if not literally) steals the dog show as Fernfield’s dog catcher Paul Cruge (rhymes with “Scrooge”). At first he’s dressed dark as Freddy Krueger driving a 50-year old van to a decrepit pound, cynical as former TV boss Louis DePalma. But when he’s lovingly attacked by puppies, meets a family in church then reads a child’s pleading letter, Lloyd turns a cheesy echo of Christmas past into a real, pained person.
When puppy Tiny (who gets the film’s only song) joins sickly boy Mikey on Christmas morning, when the buddies’ owners pray for their pets’ return and gleefully play with them when they do, you see the charm and love people feel for their dogs who, in their own way, talk with them. “Santa Paws” even concludes with a surprising version of a classic Christmas hymn. (DVD extras include the Buddies singing traditional holiday songs. )
“Santa Buddies” won’t replace modern classic Christmas films (”Christmas Story,” “Elf”) which understand and subvert the season’s cynicism in ways Disney by its mission cannot do. But puppies will always be cute, and when allowed to do so naturally “Santa Buddies” becomes a light, sweet Christmas treat for young children and dog lovers.
Rating: 3 / 5
I got this item within a few days of ordering in excellent condition. My 8 yr old loves all of the Buddies movies & I can’t wait to see her face when she finds this one under the tree.
Rating: 5 / 5
This is the latest in a series of Air Buddies films that includes Air Buddies (2006), Snow Buddies (2008), and Space Buddies (2009) as well as Santa Buddies. The five “buddies” visit the North Pole where Puppy Paws (son of Santa Paws) has become bored and restless. The major crisis involves a magical icicle that is melting as the world seems to be losing the Christmas spirit. Without any assistance from Al Gore, Puppy Paws and his friends rise to the challenge.
My rating is based on a compromise of two perspectives: My own as an adult who has seen all of Disney’s films and judges each new one according to the high standards set by classics such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi (Three Stars), and, the perspective of children no older than six (Four Stars). Add another Star for the “bonus materials” and the production values (image and sound) and divide by two. (The two-disco “Combo Pack” really is quite a bargain, offering both DVD and Blu-ray HD plus 5. 1 Dolby Digital sound. ) Younger viewers will have favorite scenes they enjoy seeing again and again and again. (I can’t think of one I am eager to see again. ) The combination of adorable puppies, the North Pole, Santa Claus, and the spirit of Christmas creates an exceptionally pleasant experience for them but, at least in my opinion, much less so for adults.
One final point. Unsupervised younger children have easy access to what Robert Burns characterizes as “man’s inhumanity to man” in his poem, From Man was made to Mourn: A Dirge, (1785). Although I do not consider Santa Buddies to be comparable with a number of Disney classics, it does have a quality of innocence that I find refreshing and consider commendable. I hope that leaders in the film industry will continue to have the courage as well as the talents to produce films that affirm traditional values rather than glorify and (at least by implication) condone violence in one form or another.
Rating: 4 / 5
The talking puppies are back! For those who have enjoyed the `Air Bud’ and previous “Buddies” films. . . families, especially the young children will definitely enjoy this holiday film featuring the puppies in a Christmas adventure as they try to save Christmas in “Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws”.
The Buddies are back and right on time for the holidays. These “Buddie” films are just so cute and enjoyable, family fun films with cute puppies that you can’t get enough of.
Since the 1997 debut of the film “Air Bud”, from that film of a talking canine has launched several “Buddie” films featuring the golden retriever puppies in “Air Buddies”, “Snow Buddies”, “Space Buddies” and now their fourth film titled “Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws”. The Blu-ray release contains a Blu-ray and also a DVD for the film as well.
As with the previous “buddies” films, “Santa Buddies” reunites the golden retriever puppies (children of the original canine “Air Bud”):
Budderball: The athletic puppy
Rosebud: The female puppy of the group
Buddha: The puppy who likes to eat everything
B-Dawg: The hip hop loving, street talking puppy
Mudbud: The puppy who just can’t get enough of getting himself dirty and muddy
In “Santa Buddies”, both Santa Claus (played by George Wendt, “Cheers”, “Sabrina the Teenage Witch) and Santa Paws worry about the weakening of Christmas Spirit. Many children and dogs who do not believe in Santa Claus are now weakening the magical power of Christmas and its causing problems in the North Pole. To make things worse, for some reason, the North Poe is starting to melt and the reindeer have all caught a flu.
Meanwhile, Santa Paws worries about his son Puppy Paws who has stopped believing in Christmas and leaves the North Pole without telling anyone after he sees a naughty list and sees a page of the buddy Budderbawl. Puppy Paws comes up with an idea to help Budderbawl get off the naught list if Budderbawl can teach him become a normal dog.
While Santa Claus and Santa Paws go to find the troublesome puppy, things continue to get worse as the North Pole. Elf Eli (played by Danny Woodburn, “Watchmen”, “Passions”) goes to retrieve the yearly Christmas mail from children and there are hardly any.
As Santa Claus, Santa Paus and the elves worry about Christmas Eve and people starting to not believe in Christmas anymore, Santa Paws meets up Budderbawl and tries to help him understand how Christmas and Santa is real. Budderbawl ends introduces Puppy Paws to the other buddies and each buddy tries to teach him how to behave like a normal dog as Puppy Paws teaches them the Christmas spirit.
The film then showcases the buddies in an adventure trying to save dogs that have been captured by the dog catcher Stan Cruge (played by Christopher Lloyd, “Back to the Future Films”, “Stacked”, “Taxi”) and an adventure that leads Puppy Paws and new friends having to save Christmas.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws” is featured in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1 aspect ratio). Despite being a direct-to-video title, one thing that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is good at is making their films look great on Blu-ray. Picture quality showcases the Christmas colors of red and also warm colors of the holiday season. Colors are vibrant, the detail of Santa’s white fur on his clothing to the dog’s hair is well-detailed. Of course, there is CG utilized in the film beyond the mouth movements of the dogs as some special effects look quite low budget. There are some banding issues that I saw during the film but nothing that interferes with view. If anything, for a family film targeted towards children, picture quality is very good.
As for audio, the film is presented in English 5. 1 DTS-HD (48 kHz/24-bit), as well as French and Spanish 5. 1 Dolby Digital. The lossless soundtrack is pretty much front and center channel driven as dialogue is clear and understandable while the Christmas music comes out nice and clear. This is not a film that has action sequences that utilize the whole soundscape, so for the most part, the audio is satisfactory for children.
Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
There are a few special features on this Blu-ray edition of “Santa Buddies” presented in 1080p, English, French and Spanish 5. 1 Dolby Digital and subtitles in English SDH, French and Spanish. Included are:
* Sing Along to Christmas Carols With the Buddies – (3:29) The buddies sing “Santa Paws is Comin’ to Town”, “Deck the Halls” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” while karaoke style sing along lyrics show up on the bottom of the screen.
* “Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town” Music Video – (3:29) A music video featuring Steve Rushton singing “Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town”.
JUDGMENT CALL:
I have watched the Buddy films alongside my son for several years now and for the most part, he has grown up watching these films and enjoying it.
“Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws” is definitely a film directed towards the children. For parents or teenagers, if they are dog lovers, they can probably enjoy the film and be entertained by the cuteness of the puppies and seeing the Disney magic at work and watch them talk.
I’m sure that young children will enjoy this film. In fact, the inclusion of the DVD along with the Blu-ray can definitely be useful during those long holiday commutes. But I will say that I was disappointed by the small amount of special features included with this release. “Space Buddies” featured fun facts, bloopers and even a game for the children. But this time, “Santa Buddies” only features a music video and a Christmas sing-along.
But that’s the parent in me wanting a bigger bang for the buck. But in the end, children will find this latest adventure featuring the buddies probably as entertaining as my six-year-old son did and in the long run, I suppose that’s all that matters.
Overall, “Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws” was family tested, child approved.
Rating: 3 / 5