Barking at the Big Screen: Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups

Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups meanders throughout its 97-minute runtime.

Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups is the 2012 sequel to The Search for Santa Paws, both part of the Santa Paws trilogy and the larger Air Buddies series.

Storyline

Santa Paws (Tom Everett Scott) the Great Pyrenees and his wife Mrs Paws have had puppies – Charity (G Hannelius), Hope (Tatiana Gudegast), Jingle (Marlowe Peyton) and Noble (Aidan Gemme).

Unfortunately, Noble is mischievous, Charity is selfish, Hope is terrifies everyone with her daredevil antics, and Jingle can’t sing a note – but tries to anyway, very loudly.

They get a lesson from Head Elves Eli (Danny Woodburn) and Eddy the JRT (Richard Kind) on how the magic crystals from the ice cavern work – they’re powered by “Christmas spirit,” which can be mined or something by being tracked on the Spirit Map.

Mrs. Claus (Cheryl Ladd) is sent to a town in Montana called Pineville on a diplomatic mission, and the Santa Pups stow away in her sleigh.

A Pineville boy named Carter Reynolds (Josh Feldman) hates Christmas, much to his younger sister Sarah’s (Kaitlyn Maher) dismay. Their dad, Thomas (George Newbern), is a widower who operates the local radio station in addition to his law practice.

The Santa Pups start granting Christmas wishes with the magic crystal they stole from Eddy, and Mrs. Claus is mistakenly hired as the Reynolds’ nanny.

After Noble accidentally grants Carter’s wish that everyone around town would forget about Christmas, he and his sisters are picked up by the guy who runs the local animal shelter. Then the mayor forecloses on the radio station’s lease.

Mrs. Claus is arrested for illegally boarding animals on someone else’s property, and the magic ice cavern is melting, but at least the puppies’ new friend Baxter breaks them out of the pound.

Eli, Eddy, Sarah and Carter break Mrs. Claus out of jail, and then the kids air the annual radio special, which restores the Christmas spirit to everyone in Pineville (and the world), saving the day.

Plot Holes and Stray Observations

Huh, elves play hockey during the summers. (Well, technically a hockey-like cousin called “shinny,” which is kind of like HORSE to actual basketball.)

Shouldn’t Jingle be named “Faith” instead? It would work, too, since she believes that she does (or will eventually) sing well.

That’s not the greatest Santa Claus wig in the world.

I’m vaguely curious about the diplomatic relations at the North Pole now after hearing that towns and cities have ambassadors of Christmas spirit.

I would be kind of terrified to live in this town, given how obsessed everyone is about Christmas.

For being a local tradition, Sarah’s song on the radio is awfully depressing.

“A Christmas cold”? That’s…realllly poor writing.

I can’t remember seeing such tedious musical numbers.

Josh Flitter (Brutus the Bulldog) voiced Budderball in most of the other Air Buddies movies. G Hannelius voiced Rosebud in Spooky Buddies, Treasure Buddies and Space Buddies, in addition to starring in the Disney Channel TV series Dog with a Blog.  

How is Vixen a buck? How many names was he called before Rudolph showed up?

For a radio station, 87.9 XMAS has an appalling lack of soundproofing in their studio.

An ice cream truck in the middle of winter isn’t exactly the best disguise.

Summary

Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups is tedious and wanders in slow circles forever, more or less hitting all the bases when it comes to its formulaic plot. Almost all the actors seem half-asleep, and the editing is really choppy. Though not the worst Christmas movie ever made, it is probably worse than its predecessor.

Leave it on in the background for the kids or grandkids during the holidays, but don’t try to make it make sense.