Snow Buddies (2008)

Directed by: Robert Vince | 84 minutes | family | Actors: James Belushi, Jimmy Bennett, Lothaire Bluteau, Jason Bryden, Jarvis Dashkewytch, Mike Dopud, Josh Flitter, Tyler Foden, Skyler Gisondo, Whoopi Goldberg, Nicholas Harrison, Henry Hodges, John Kapelos, Richard Karn, Taku Kawai, Dominic Scott Kay Kris Kristofferson, Viv Leacock, Paula Lindberg, Stuart Malinowski, Dylan Minnette, Gig Morton, Mackenzie Mowat, Liliana Mumy, Kolton Nowaczynski, Christian Pikes, Paul Rae, William Samples, Tom Everett Scott, Molly Shannon, Lise Simms, Dylan Sprouse, Cynthia Stevenson, Charles C. Stevenson Jr., Michael Teigen, Cainan Wiebe

There has never been a cuter movie than Disney’s ‘Snow Buddies’! First there are those adorable golden retriever puppies who can talk and then they end up with an even more cuddly husky puppy. Kids will love this Alaskan puppy adventure and their parents can watch too. Whether you are an adult human or a dog in this film, you still care about the well-being of your offspring. Disney has made films about sled dogs before, such as ‘Snow Dogs’ (2002) with Cuba Gooding Jr. and ‘Eight Below’ (2006) with Paul Walker. But they are made more for adults, ‘Snow Buddies’ is all for children and also with children.

The boy Dominic Scott Kay plays Adam and Adam only dreams of one thing: to drive a sled dog team of six dogs. Unfortunately, he doesn’t let his father race sled dogs, but Adam continues to hope that his Christmas wish comes true. When five golden retriever puppies accidentally end up in Alaska, Adam’s dog Shasta knows what to do. This is the start of a very exciting snow adventure!

The actor Dominic Scott Kay has a thing for dogs. He directed the short film ‘Saving Angelo’ (2008) at the age of nine about the time he and his family saved a white boxer in real life. His friends including Kevin Bacon play in it.

The children’s voices that the dogs do are very enthusiastic and they do it well. Especially Liliana Mumy the girl who does the voice of RoseBud, sounds very sweet. In addition, you can hear Kris Kristofferson as dog Talon who trains the puppies and teaches wise lessons. Jim Belushi provides the voice of the Saint Bernard who faithfully cares for and rescues the wounded. All voices fit well with the appearance of the dogs.

It is very easy to love all puppies, the five golden retrievers each have their own character. Because the puppies are called RoseBud, Budderball, B-Dawg, Buddha and MudBud, they are called the Buddies. They each wear clothes or a necklace so you can easily identify them. Their parents and owners are very concerned when the puppies are on their snow adventure.

The story is easy to predict and the special effects aren’t great either. It’s a bit unnatural how the dogs’ mouths move when they talk. But nobody cares about that as long as those cuddly puppies run and play nicely. ‘Snow Buddies’ is a positive and cute story that young and old can enjoy watching together.