A Dogwalker's Christmas Tale (2015) User Reviews

Very predictable but not without some charm.

[MattyGibbs · 6/10 · 18 November 2015]

From the title itself you can tell that this will be no classic. It's a Christmas TV movie and expectations should be set at that level.

A rich girl meets a dog walker in the park and finds herself in a battle to save a local park from developers, which makes her re- evaluate her principles.

Like many of it's genre bedfellows it's very predictable and relies on the cast and the characters to make it a success. The cast do a good show with the limited material. Lexi Giovagnoli exudes a certain charm as the spoilt rich kid finally growing up and Jonathan Bennett does a half decent job as the activist. The back up cast are all adequate, with Timeca M. Seretti especially good in a cameo role as one of the dog walkers.

It's nicely filmed and there are a few hit and miss attempts at humour to go with the predictable romance. It's full to the brim with the usual Christmas messages i.e money isn't everything, family and friends mean the world etc. This is no bad thing but maybe they are forced home a bit too clumsily here.

You will pretty much know what's going to happen but as a very easy to watch Christmas movie, you could do a lot worse.

Not as interesting as walking a dog on Christmas

[story_by_corey · 4/10 · 19 November 2015]

Luce Lockhart wants a ruby necklace for Christmas, but can't afford it. A wealthy obnoxious developer friend offers to get her the necklace in exchange for taking her very large dog walking during the holidays. Luce really doesn't like dogs but she really likes rubies, so she agrees to do it. Along the way, she encounters an attractive dog walker at the dog park. Could romance blossom? Not if the developers (who happen to own the dog Luce is walking) bulldoze the park before it happens! Dog walkers from all over town converge on the park to find a way to take advantage of Luce's connection and stop the developers. Does Luce get the ruby necklace? Is Luz the Christmas miracle that saves the park for the dog walkers? Can dog walking lead to a walk down the aisle?

It's an interesting storyline when the dog shows up at the 23 minute mark until about an hour into it. Before and after that, the movie feels like walking your dog down the same road for the hundredth time to its predictable end. It's not the worst Christmas movie of 2015, but you might find walking your dog more enjoyable than watching it.

Well its Okay

[Christmas-Reviewer · 6/10 · 30 August 2017]

BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 300 HOLIDAY FILMS & SPECIALS. I HAVE NO AGENDA.

Luce Lockhart loves Christmas, but she finds herself in a predicament when she maxes out her credit card. Desperately wanting a ruby necklace, Luce has no choice but to accept a dog walking job for the Brandts. Reluctantly agreeing to walk Hank, Luce finds a nearby dog park where she meets some of the dog owners, including exasperating dog walker Dean Silver. Soon after, she learns that the Brandts have plans to create a spa on the dog park land. When Dean finds out about these plans, he and Luce are at odds on Dean's agenda to stop the development. But as Luce spends more time with Hank and Dean, she starts to see the park in a different light. Stuck in a bad spot of having to choose between the Brandts or Dean, Luce will have to decide if she'll be able to save the dog park by Christmas

This film is watchable but you will forget the film by the time you wake up in the morning.

What is fun to watch is to see how the makers if this film tried to hide Jonathan Bennet's stomach. They try to do this with the camera angles and wardrobe but he has gained lots of weight since his "Mean Girls" days.

Now this film does have a few surprises. That is what keeps this film from being a total waste of time. The performances are good and the film moves along at a brisk pace. There is "Worse Christmas Movies" out there but there also many better "Christmas Movies" out there as well!

Magic Beard!!!!!!!!! DOG TREATS!!!! SHOPPPPPPPINNNGGG

[lindssrobertson · 3/10 · 25 November 2018]

This movie has amazing points. One of the best and most magical moments in this movie is how Deens beard regrows, sheds, and regrows all within less than 24 hours.

Why does she eat the dog treats? I really want to know the recipe.

Whoever directed this movie must have a degree in shopping! 🛍

Oh Dear

[delsordo-46204 · 1/10 · 29 December 2017]

I kept falling asleep watching this movie at night.. it was boring ...but ... I decided to keep continue watching it during the day so I could stay awake and see if it has any significance to the storyline.. OMG the acting was so so so bad.... all around disappointed.... it was such a low budget movie.... it was cute ... I love dogs ......but maybe for like a 10 year old ..

Horrible

[vampchic2 · 1/10 · 7 December 2018]

This movie was so bad. The acting might be the worst I've ever seen.

Stick with it

[Jackbv123 · 6/10 · 27 October 2022]

If you are like me, you almost turned this off when you saw how much of an airhead the spoiled rich girl, Luce, is. For example, she max's out her parents' credit card buying a lavish gift for her boyfriend who then dumps her, apparently because of the gift. "No substance" he says.

Then throw in the premise of saving the community park from a developer. I hate these because it's always some stupid coincidental thing that comes through to save the day.

But I hate to give up easily and this one turns out to surprise me. Luce is a contradictory mess of a spoiled airhead who happens to have some smarts buried in there somewhere. Underneath she is sweet, but most of all she is playful and that comes out in a witty dialogue mostly between Luce and Dean. The story is mostly a vehicle to keep these two together exchanging banter. The dialogue is also quite silly at times, but there are more than a few smiles and laughs. The ending was maybe even more lame than I expected, but really pretty typical for this kind of movie.

Some of the acting is deliberate exaggeration like for instance Patrick Muldoon as the husband.

I don't think I have to mention there are lots of scenes with dogs.

Inauthentic at Best

[kriswilliamson-44332 · 3/10 · 18 December 2016]

Who knows why these cheesy, made-for-TV movies appeal to me, but Netflix has me pegged and I am watching all of them.. 'A Dog Walker's Christmas Tale' claims to be set in Austin, Texas. As an Austin native, I am deeply offended. As an actual dog sitter, I could not believe that half of the actors were committed dog owners.

This movie is riding on Austin's coattails, likely because we have recently gained notoriety with the rest of the country. However, this movie does not actually take place in Austin, but instead a small, adjacent suburb that is the embarrassingly conservative cousin to our liberal, weird Austin. Perhaps 1% of the movie was actually filmed in Austin city limits, and that includes the brief shot of the downtown skyline during the opening credits. The rest was filmed primarily in Round Rock, which is night-and-day in aesthetic character. The backdrops of shops and landmarks do not at all authentically represent Austin. And yet, there are countless references to our capital city.

The plot revolves around dog lovers who congregate in a well-groomed dog park (again, the majority of Austin dog parks are torn up because dogs really PLAY in them). While I can handle the inevitable over-acting in these movies, only one or two of the actors really knew how to handle their four-legged counterparts. Most of these people were obviously uncomfortable, and reserved in their contact.

Overall, the plot, script, and execution were on par with all other films in this category. However I am definitely disappointed. I am an Austin dog walker, and was hoping to fall in love with the cheesy and romantic Christmas hope of falling in love with a fellow dog walker. Instead, I could only notice all of the drastic untruths.

Bearable

[aditisingh-80670 · 2/10 · 10 May 2020]

The actor was cute, I am not body shaming but the actress was not good at all opposite to him!! I just didn't like her.. Opposite to such an amazing actor, directors must've casted someone appropriate, also she was poor in her acting skill, she just stole away the charm of the story!! Plot is OK, story is OK!! Can watch if really and utterly bored!! Honest review!! Peace

Easy to watch and I enjoyed it!

[Elizabeth-2488 · 10/10 · 15 December 2015]

Call me a hopeless romantic, but I really enjoyed the film. It is not a multimillion dollar budget film, but it was great and enjoyable to watch. The actors were good and I am a sucker for cute dogs! This film is about Luce Lockhart who has to realize what is important at Christmas. I don't know about you, but I never get tired of happy uplifting stories and films with a positive message. I guess I'm just not as negative as some, so sorry guys, but I really enjoyed the film and would watch it again. If you love action packed films or special effects, this film is not the one for you! If you like more character driven holiday films with a positive message and a fun romantic twist, then the film is for you! And who does not love those dogs!! Christmas, dogs, romance--I'm in!

Bad playing and full of cliche

[federica-lerose · 1/10 · 12 November 2019]

I never watched a movie so full of cliche! I already know what was happening minutes before they show it. The actor were terribile, the story wasn't so bad actually, but it disappoint me so much. Very very bad.

A Curious Phenomenon

[jromanbaker · 2/10 · 16 December 2021]

Every year we are flooded with these ' Christmas ' films, usually made by television channels and this example is my first introduction to them. Maybe I chose the wrong one, and to a certain extent it does have a social cause at the heart of it. How to save a park from nasty people who want to get rid of it. Dogwalker's love it and lonely people love it and under the layers of cliche and endless dog caressing it has its heart in the right place. But sadly the constant smiling, and a cringe worthy romance makes it difficult to endure. The two leads do their best but swamped by Christmas tinsel and an awful musical soundtrack I felt sorry for them and hoped that fate would be kind and give them better roles. Everyone smiles and the utter and rather juvenile simplicity of how people really spend their lives is overwhelmingly trite, and the happiness factor is pumped up to the maximum. The men have to be muscular and third rate Prince Charming's and the women are suitably submissive. This is film as fast food product and like consuming too much sweet things it could induce addiction. Give me the bread and butter of those days outside of Christmas any day.

Awful writing

[dramirez-29694 · 1/10 · 9 December 2020]

Who doesn't love a good sappy cliche Christmas movie? You wont find it here. Seems like a high school Christmas movie project. 😬

What the actual F?!

[albinyaminov · 1/10 · 25 November 2019]

I love cheesy, crappy, horrible Christmas romance movies, I watch them all. But this.....I stopped, it was too painful.

Paint by Numbers is too good for this film. More like Crayons

[glenlassan · 1/10 · 20 December 2018]

Aside from having utterly insipid writing that is ridden with every terrible x-mas movie trope possible, on every appreciable technical level this movie fails. From an early shot of a shiny shopping bag drawing the eye away from the characters, to multiple conversations that makes one wonder whether or not the characters "talking" to each other were even on the same set, this movie is a nightmare. Not a single one of the actors knew the basics of dramatic timing, none of them were likable, and calling the plot progression "flat" is the understatement of the century.

If you hope to gain any form of enjoyment, or holiday cheer from this film, I advise you to do it the same way my Fiance and i did. With a bottle of spiked eggnog (30 proof) and a strong sense of irony.

Not too bad

[doctorsmoothlove · 3/10 · 3 November 2019]

"A Dowalker's Christmas Tale" is your standard Hallmark channel-style holiday romance film. In this version of the story, the heroine, Luce, is a naive college student who befriends a handsome vet student at a local dog park.

The film's script sets the story up well. Luce begins the film by buying a present for her "boyfriend" who doesn't know that he is in a relationship with her. He isn't a bad guy as much as a dude who enjoys women with more substance. Substance becomes a recurring theme in the film. Luce has to get some of that!

Which she does by joining with Mr. Hot Guy and friends to influence a local business developer from ceasing to demolish the dog park and building a day spa. This plot point doesn't work well because the dog park is an empty field with some park benches. You just have to accept that it is a special place. The televisual flat shots of the actors give no depth to the place. We never get to see all of it in one shot.

With a film like this, the only hope is that the actors elevate the material. Thankfully, Lexi Giovagnoli is a chipper actor who brings a lot of energy to the role. She is also close in age to the college student she portrays. We can believe that she would be unable to see that her first boyfriend isn't a boyfriend. The script at least develops her character so she doesn't jump into her next, real relationship immediately. She is a little less trusting of Mr. Hot Guy at first.

None of the women are horrible to each other. Even the roommate who dates Luce's ex isn't a witch. Perhaps this is a requirement of a Hallmark holiday script; it's an issue a lot of mainstream romance movies have.

The other actors don't bring much to the film. They are serviceable in the roles they have. You may recognize Mr. Hot Guy as Jon Bennett from Mean Girls. He is the same sympathetic love object he was there. He isn't asked to do much but neither is the viewer.

Dogs lovers fun fluff Xmas tail

[stableladyhawke-19141 · 8/10 · 4 November 2018]

Sometimes you want a dog story that isn't sad! Sometimes you want a romance that isn't dopey and instant. Sometimes you want people to find solutions! Sometimes you want to watch a movie that gives you all of the above. I'd like to rate it 10/10 but in the great scheme of things this isn't a great movie. This is a fluff movie that is really fun to watch. I ever got past the male leads constant mugging the camera. Yes I highly recommend this movie for a gentle evenings relaxation!!!!

Good Movie

[jewelch · 5/10 · 23 December 2020]

Cute story and fun actors. I liked this film because it was funny, Christmassy and not too serious. There was no inappropriate language or scenes. I wish there were more movies with these characters or some of the supporting actors. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 12/22/2020

Poor movie

[jewhitmer25 · 4/10 · 25 July 2021]

I watched this a second time just to make sure I was judging it fairly. It's simply not very good.

A sample of the witty repartee Luce asks Dean a question Dead: Nunya Luce: What Dean: None of your business.

Middle school

Clearly a Hallmark wannabe, but it missed the mark.

Not exactly a bad movie, just disappointing.

The leads had a certain charm, Jonathan Bennett as Dean Stanton and Lexi Giovagnoli were a cute couple, they would have done better with a better script.

My Advice: Go ahead and watch it, it's entertaining, just don't expect too much.