A Dog’s Perfect Christmas

A puppy is abandoned by the side of the road. A mother named Juliana (Kathleen Rose Perkins) is rushed to the hospital. A father (Milo Ventimiglia as Hunter) has a tough new boss and his job is on the line. His father is a devastated widower (Dennis Quaid as Sander) who has stopped talking to just about everyone but his dog, Winstead (voiced by Thomas Haden Church). The teenage daughter Ello (Greta Gloag), a gifted figure skater, is picked on by the high school alpha mean girls, and just wants to be invisible.

The entire family is under extreme stress. “I don’t have the bandwidth to take on a puppy,” Hunter says, understandably. But that puppy, now named Ruby, has become very important to Ello. And somehow, with the help of Ruby and Winstead, it all comes together for a Christmas that may not be what anyone envisioned but is what everyone agrees is perfect.

The charm of the films based on W. Bruce Cameron’s warm-hearted stories about flawed but endearing human characters is that they are told from a dog’s point of view. “A Dog’s Purpose” and “A Dog’s Journey” showed us how these pure-hearted, devoted creatures sustain us, link us, and even inspire us. Those films were episodic, while this one stays with one family and lets us get involved in each of their storylines.

We get a brief flashback of then-puppy Winstead’s Christmas arrival in his new “pack,” the close, loving, and happy Goss family. And then, two years later, after the Sander’s wife has died, he is now living with, or, more accurately, staying in a bedroom of the home Hunter, Juliana, daughter-in-law, Ello, and rambunctious toddler twins.

Sander is so depressed he does not shave or cut his hair or join the family for meals. He barely speaks, except to Winstead. Hunter is distracted by work. Juliana is hospitalized and in an induced coma. Hunter’s very demanding new boss is Mrs. O’Brien, played by director and co-screenwriter Cathryn Michon. She has been brought in to decide whether his entire division should be shut down. and she tells him that if his big project to create an open plan for a collaborative workplace fails, she will fire him. She does have a son who is transferring to Ello’s school, and Hunter volunteers Ello as a guide. He turns out to be a dreamboat ( Ethan Lewis as Sean).

Sander meets Claire (Mary Steenburgen, as always, a welcome source of wit, warmth, and light) who shares his love for Joni Mitchell and dogs. The various crises and opportunities — and the dogs, bring the family together just in time for December 25th. This film skillfully balances humor and romance — and frisky, lovable pooches, with insightful portrayals of loss, grief, anxiety, and depression. And it gently shows us how the scariest and saddest moments can bring us together by reminding us how fragile we are and how much we need each other. As Joni Mitchell might say, “Don’t it always seem to know you don’t know what it’s got ’til it’s gone.” In this story, after it’s gone, it can be rebuilt…with some help from dogs, in time for Christmas.

Parents should know that this movie includes a sad (offscreen) death, serious illness, grief, adolescent angst, mild sexual references, some potty humor, brief strong language, and family stress and struggles. Characters lie to get what they want.

Family discussion: What pet has been important in your life?

If you like this, try: the book, or the picture book for children, and the books and movies A Dog’s Purpose and A Dog’s Journey and the book by co-screenwriter/director/Mrs. O’Brien Cathryn Michon that plays an important role in the film.

Streaming on Netflix