Seven-Year-Old Emma Kragen's Vision Hits DVD in The 12 Dogs of Christmas

A couple of years ago, I happened upon The 12 Dogs of Christmas, a cute and simple book that parodies The 12 Days of Christmas by having each day bring dogs of a different breed. Seven-year-old Emma Kragen came up with the concept, while three adults helped with photographing dogs and providing background illustrations. When I found that this book had inspired a movie, I found it hard to imagine what kind of film could come out of a mere listing of dogs of various breeds. I put it in my queue, expecting something pretty silly. After two years on the list, it finally made its way to my mailbox this month, and I must say that while it was silly at times, it was better than I anticipated.

The 12 Dogs of Christmas is a live-action family film set in the 1930s, with a running time of nearly two hours. It stars Jordan-Claire Green as Emma O’Conner, a plucky 12-year-old from Pittsburgh whose out-of-work father sticks her on a train to a town from his past, giving her the address of “Aunt Delores” and a promise to collect her by Christmas. Emma soon finds out that Delores (Bonita Friedericy) is not her aunt but her father’s former flame. She’s still got some pretty bitter feelings toward him and can’t believe his audacity in dropping his daughter on her doorstep.

Naturally, she eventually agrees, albeit reluctantly, to allow Emma to stay with her, though she insists upon her finding a job so she can pay for her food. She even thinks she has the perfect job for Emma - as lackey for the scuzzy local dogcatcher (John Billingsley), who has amorous intentions toward her. But Emma, despite initially professing a dislike for dogs, soon finds herself in league with Mike Stevens (Adam Hicks), a boy who, along with his mom Cathy (Susan Wood), is working diligently to undermine the dogcatcher at every opportunity. His position is especially nefarious because his brother, the mayor (Richard Riehle), in the movie’s most absurd plot point, has outlawed the owning of dogs within city limits, considering them a nuisance. So any dog he finds inside the city is fair game.

This is a direct-to-video movie that is sometimes a little over-the-top and slapsticky and relies on a couple of dubious premises. On the whole, however, it’s polished - infinitely more so than Dear Santa, the low-budget disaster of a movie Netflix last sent me - and the actors, though mostly unfamiliar to me, did their jobs well. I especially enjoyed Riehle, who I’ve seen in several projects, most notably Office Space. He provides a charming mix of pomposity and decency for the mayor. I also loved Eric Lutes, who guest starred in a memorable episode of Frasier, as the football coach who takes over direction of the children’s Christmas program at the last minute, leading him to team up with piano-playing Cathy. His sweet, bumbling manner is most endearing, making him my favorite character in the movie. It was also fun to see Austin Powers‘ Mindy Sterling as a harsh but not altogether unreasonable administrator.

The two young leads are unremarkable but effective. They don’t come across as cheesy, except perhaps Hicks in one scene, though Green is a bit wooden at times. In general, though, they do a good job. Friedericy and Billingsley are both over-the-top, but the former is mostly entertaining, while the latter is mostly grating. The movie, directed by Kieth Merrill and written by Merrill and Steven Paul Leiva, seems mostly historically accurate and reminds me of Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, which is set during the same time period.

Of course, one might argue that the entire purpose of this movie is to find an excuse to assemble a film version of Emma Kragen’s vision, and that does happen, in the form of the kids’ Christmas pageant. It’s a little too convenient that Cathy’s makeshift shelter just happens to contain exactly the right numbers of each type of dog to pull that off. That is the movie’s second-most-unbelievable plot point, but I’ll let it slide since it’s the scene around which the film was written.

The DVD includes a behind-the-scenes peek at the movie that mainly consists of poorly edited interviews with the actors. Lute’s segments are the best, as he infuses his responses with considerable wit. The kids - who include Hicks, Green and Alisha Mullally, who plays their classmate Miranda - seem giggly and nervous, and there’s something a bit eye-rolling about Green’s explanation that, in essence, the true meaning of Christmas is that dogs are lovable.

But dogs are lovable, at least to many of us. If that includes you, The 12 Dogs of Christmas might just bring a smile to your face.

Will Mom Get In the Way When Rerun Wants a Dog for Christmas?

It's been more than 40 years since a droopy little tree and a recitation from the Gospel of Luke first charmed television audiences in A Charlie Brown Christmas. Since then, it has become a cherished tradition. I don't think any Peanuts special since has quite captured the majesty of that first one, but whenever one of them is aired on television, I look forward to sitting down and watching it. Because Christmas is such a popular subject, it's not too surprising that the Peanuts gang starred in more than one Christmas special.

Several years ago I watched It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown, a fun but rather scattered special involving, among other things, Sally's determination to remember her big line in the upcoming play and her insistence that Harold Angel was going to be singing in the program. More recently, I watched I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown, a Peanuts special produced after the death of Charles Schulz but taken from his strips, many of which can be found in the book It's a Dog's Life, Snoopy.

While It's Christmastime Again is largely a series of vignettes, I Want a Dog for Christmas has a pretty strong plot thread. Its main focus is Rerun (Jimmy Bennett), Linus's (Corey Patnos) little look-alike brother, who is always showing up on Charlie Brown's (Adam Taylor Gordon) doorstep asking if Snoopy (Bill Melendez) can come out and play. Usually his idea of playing involves Snoopy catching a ball and bringing it back or Snoopy puling Rerun on a sled - strenuous activities requiring a very tolerant pooch. Snoopy is only occasionally accommodating; more often, he's sitting inside laughing hysterically at the audacity of this pipsqueak.

Naturally, Rerun wouldn't have to be constantly trying to borrow Charlie Brown's dog if the Van Pelt residence had a dog as well. So Rerun, undeterred by older sister Lucy's (Ashley Rose) protests that their mother will never let him keep a dog, sets out to ask Santa for his heart's desire. Eventually, though, it's Snoopy who provides what seems like the perfect opportunity; it seems his desert-dwelling brother Spike has been lonesome of late and might just be amenable to a new living arrangement...

While Linus has always been my favorite of the Van Pelts - and probably my favorite human character in the strip - Rerun is pretty fun to observe. He's a very quirky kid who's not at all afraid to speak his mind. His conversations with a kindergarten classmate (Kaitlyn Maggio) are illuminating, and his lack of tact as he complains, in the presence of Linus and Lucy, about his family situation reminds me of my own little brother. It's not always easy being the youngest - though as the (hopefully less crabby) Lucy of my family, I contend that the youngest sometimes don't know how easy they have it!

Though Spike has a fairly minor role in the special, it's always fun to see Snoopy's relatives, and Spike's bland personality seems well suited to a lad who wants a dog he can control; Snoopy is much too independent for that. The first time I watched this, I had my doubts about it, since I hadn't been particularly impressed with Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown, a special which was released earlier that same year. I was pleased to find the story engaging and humorous, with plenty of Snoopy to keep things fun. I also appreciated that the characters all sounded fairly similar to those in A Charlie Brown Christmas; there have been specials in which the voices have sounded decidedly off to me. Compared to that classic, I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown feels like a bit of a lightweight, but standing on its own it is a perfectly solid special, and one of the better Peanuts adventures I've seen.