Dog Gone | Movie Review

To be honest, I kept passing by Dog Gone on Netflix ever since it came out on January 13. The thumbnail looked boring, the preview looked boring, the description was boring. It just didn’t look like a movie I would enjoy. But I’m a reviewer so I finally put on my big girl pants and turned it on.

Fielding Marshall (Johnny Berchtold) is in his senior year of college. After his girlfriend breaks up with him, he adopts a dog named Gonker. When graduation rolls around, Fielding misses the ceremony because he lost track of time camping with his dog. Needless to say, his parents, John (Rob Lowe) and Ginny (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), are not happy. Fielding and Gonker move back to the Marshall home to try to figure out what to do with their life. While hiking with his college buddy, Nate (Nick Peine), Gonker chases a fox and gets lost. Fielding and John spend the next couple of weeks together searching for their dog.

If you are looking for a movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat, Dog Gone is not it. Instead, you will find a heartfelt drama that is based on a true story. While the search for Gonker drives the plot, it’s the strained relationship between Fielding and his father that is the core of the movie. As such, I found Dog Gone to be fairly dull. The parts that I found most interesting were the parts involving Fielding’s mother, Ginny, and her past relationship with her parents and the dog that she briefly owned. Those were the parts that made me teary-eyed. Not the testosterone-filled “Let’s not talk about anything” men. They were actually kinda annoying.

I would have preferred if Dog Gone was told from Gonker’s point of view, like Homeward Bound. It also would have made the title a little more appropriate. Yes, it’s the name of the book that the movie is based on but it still feels disingenuous. The Search for Gonker or Where Has My Dog Gone? would have been better titles. Anyway, I didn’t like the movie but I didn’t hate it either. It just needs more dog.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 - Mostly because Gonker is a good dog and the credits are filled with pictures of the cast and crew with their pets.

Sister Swap: Christmas In The City | 2021 Christmas Movies

Christmas is almost here but there are still a ton of Christmas movies to watch. This is the time of year when I get beat down by watching so many of these movies but I am going to try my hardest to get as many of these reviewed as possible! So let’s get going with the second half of A Hometown Holiday titled Christmas In The City.

While her sister, Jennifer (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), is in their hometown of Hazelwood, Meg (Ashley Williams) stays in Salt Lake City to help Jennifer’s restaurant prepare for a local Christmas competition. Will Meg’s big ideas help or ruin Jennifer’s restaurant?

A Hometown Holiday was an adorable movie. Christmas In The City has a similar energy but doesn’t quite live up to its predecessor. I think the problem, as usual, stems from the conflicts in each movie. In Hometown, Jennifer had to deal with all of the issues that come up when trying to renovate an old building. In City, everything was pretty much done for Meg. She was only coming up with ideas to make the restaurant more festive. There was only one real issue she had to deal with and it was easily solved. The rest of the movie felt unnecessary.

I understand what Hallmark was going for when they made these two movies. Having two completely different perspectives shown at once. There are multiple times that we see the sisters cross over into the other’s movie. That was so cool and original. However, you can’t have one sister doing something interesting while the other wanders around thinking about what she’s going to do in the future. It would have been a little more interesting if Meg was doing her own thing in Salt Lake City instead of doing something that was already pretty finished.

I do recommend watching A Hometown Holiday. But I would say skip Christmas In The City unless you are very invested in seeing the other side of the story. You won’t lose anything by watching only one of the movies. I really wish the second one was better. It would have been so cool.

Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday | 2021 Christmas Movies

I know that Hallmark and Lifetime have annual movie series. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a series have two movies in the same year. Sister Swap has two movies this month. A Hometown Holiday came first and Christmas In The City aired a week later. I wonder if they will be any good.

Jennifer (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) runs a successful restaurant in Salt Lake City. Her sister, Meg (Ashley Williams), stayed in their hometown of Hazelwood to help their parents run their bakery. This year will be the first Christmas with the family since their Uncle Dave (Kevin Nealon) passed away. Meg has gone to Salt Lake City while Jennifer and her son, Simon (Jacob Buster), go home to Hazelwood. When they get to Hazelwood, Jennifer and Simon find out that the family is planning on selling Uncle Dave’s movie theater. Will they be able to save the historic theater or will it be sold to a new theater chain that will update everything?

A Hometown Holiday was a sweet movie. Once again, the romance took a back seat to restoring the movie theater. Sure, Jennifer was falling in love with Eric (Mark Deklin) but we didn’t get a lot of those long stares at each other. Instead, they quietly held hands at family gatherings and sat under a quilt together in the cold theater. The romance wasn’t shoved down our throats, which made it feel like it was happening organically. They fell in love because they were spending a lot of time together.

I also like that the movie didn’t forget about Simon. Instead of shunting him off to hang out with a new set of friends, they used him to bring Eric’s daughter, Madzie (Lila Clark), into the family. It was Simon that would ask Madzie what was wrong when she looked sad and it was Simon that comforted her when she was missing her mother. Bringing the kids together like that made this blending of families feel more natural as well. Sure, in real life, I’m sure the teenager would be a snarky pain in the butt and the child would be angry that her dad was “replacing” her mom but this is Hallmark. Kids don’t act like that around here.

Amazingly, I think this may be my favorite Hallmark movie of the season so far. Granted, I haven’t watched the second movie yet. Since we can see the set up for the second movie in this one, I have high hopes for it. Both of the Williams sisters are good actresses. They shouldn’t have any problems carrying the movie. I think the only way they could screw this up is if the second movie is entirely about Meg getting into a new romantic relationship. I don’t think that is the case but I will be very upset if it is.

Based on this movie alone, yes, I think you should watch it. I mean, if the second movie is bad, at least the first was good. We can pretend that one doesn’t exist if we have to.

The Christmas Chronicles 2 | 2020 Christmas Movies

Back in 2018, Netflix gave us The Christmas Chronicles. The movie was such a hit that we got a part 2 this year. Not only do we get more of Santa and his elves, we also finally get to see Mrs. Claus!

Kate (Darby Camp) is spending Christmas on the beach with her family. Her mother, Claire (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), has started dating a new man, Bob (Tyrese Gibson). Kate is unhappy about the whole situation so she decides to run away. She, along with Bob’s son Jack (Jahzir Bruno), get kidnapped by a former elf, Belsnickel (Julian Dennison), in order to try to get into the North Pole. The kids are saved by Santa but now Belsnickel is attacking Santa’s Village. It’s up to Kate, Jack, Santa, and Mrs. Claus to save Santa’s Village from Belsnickel’s evil-doings.

Sadly, all of the things I enjoyed about the original movie are missing here. The elves, who were really cool in the first movie, spend a lot of this movie doing bad things, thanks to Belsnickel covering them with a potion. Kate is now a teenager and she’s kinda unbearable. She whines a lot and, even though she’s supposed to be a True Believer, she is terrible to everyone who isn’t Santa Claus.

Is it worth watching? Eh, Mrs. Claus is pretty awesome. Santa has another big musical number that is fun. I honestly think The Christmas Chronicles 2 would have been better with different kids or if Kate was teaching Jack how to be a True Believer. Instead, we get a lot of Santa fighting - both with Belsnickel and with the Yulecat.

The movie isn’t completely terrible but it’s not great either. If you really loved the first movie, I would recommend you skip the second. But if your curiosity wins out, it isn’t a completely terrible 2 hours. I just hope there isn’t a third movie in the works.