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Cast: Zachary Gordon, Mitchel Musso, G. Hannelius, Madison Pettis, Richard Kind, Bonnie Somerville, Richard Riehle, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Josh Flitter, Jonathan Morgan Heit, Kaitlyn Maher
In this prequel to Disney's holiday hit Santa Buddies, Santa Claus (Richard Riehle) and puppy Paws (voice of Zachary Gordon) become best friends as they team up to spread the spirit of Christmas in New York City. But when Santa's memory fades, it's Paws who must save the holiday -- with a little help from orphan Quinn (Kaitlyn Maher), her friend Will (Madison Pettis) and a group of chatty canines.
As stated above this is a prequel to "Santa Buddies" so I recommend watching that first, in fact watching both will make for a great night of fun the family can enjoy together. The Disney "Buddies" movies are very successful but instead of doing a sequel just one year later we instead see a prequel which I think was a clever idea. There are no "Buddies" in this movie but we do get a few actors returning here including Zachary Gordon as Paws, Eddy the Elf Dog and Danny Woodburn plays Eli the Elf once more. Also Kaitlyn Maher ("America's Got Talent"), who gave voice to a doggie "friend" in 2009, gets to be on-camera as a human this time around. The film is like "Annie" and "Miracle on 34th Street" with its singing orphans and Santa working in a department store, which again I thought was clever even if it isn't original. Not the best or most original Christmas tale ever but you have to remember the targeted age group here and for that reason I would have to say that this is a Disney film the little ones will get hours and hours of enjoyment from so if you have children this is certainly a must own.
The movie is available of DVD and Blu-ray and they come with Bonus Features that Includes:
Sing Along To Christmas Carols With The Buddies
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town Music Video
You can order the DVD HERE and the Blu-ray HERE.
Released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
**** Out Of *****