The Search for Santa Paws | |
---|---|
![]() Disney release poster | |
Directed by | Robert Vince |
Written by | Robert Vince Anna McRoberts |
Based on | Characters by Paul Tamasy Aaron Mendelsohn Kevin DiCicco Robert Vince Anna McRoberts |
Produced by | Anna McRoberts Robert Vince |
Starring | Zachary Gordon Mitchel Musso Kaitlyn Maher Madison Pettis Genevieve Hannelius Richard Kind Jason Connery Christopher Massey |
Cinematography | Kamal Derkaoui |
Edited by | Kelly Herron |
Music by | Brahm Wenger |
Production company | Keystone Entertainment |
Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
Countries | United States Canada |
Language | English |
The Search for Santa Paws is a 2010 Christmas adventure fantasy film released on November 23, 2010. The title is the tenth film in the Air Bud franchise and is also a prequel to Santa Buddies , as well as a spin-off from the Air Buddies film franchise.
On his birthday, Santa Claus receives a letter and gift informing him of the death of his friend Mr. Hucklebuckle, a toy store owner and member of the "Santa Cause", an organization of delegates who encourage Christmas spirit worldwide. To cheer Santa up, his head elf Eli uses the great Christmas icicle to bring the gift, a stuffed dog, to life. Santa names the puppy Paws and the two become best friends.
In New York City, an orphan named Quinn arrives at an orphanage run by Gladys Stout, an overtly strict woman who disapproves of anything that the children love. As such, she steals their Christmas decorations and toys and destroys them with her basement incinerator. Despite this, Quinn befriends the other girls, including the oldest, Willamina "Will", who has lost her Christmas spirit since her own parents' death.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hucklebuckle's grandson James and his wife Kate arrive at his toy store and their caseworker Mr. Stewart informs them that they must run the store profitably for one Christmas season to gain ownership. They decide to hire a store Santa to bring in customers, intending to sell the store once they have ownership.
Santa and Paws travel to New York to visit Hucklebuckle's store, gaining the attention of Gus, a homeless man who follows them. On the streets, Santa bumps into Stout, falls into the street, and is hit by a cab, becoming separated from Paws. Gus takes Santa's magic crystal, resulting in him losing his memories and being taken in by James and Kate as a mall Santa.
After spending the night wandering the streets, Paws meets three stray dogs named Haggis, Rasta and T-Money who are captured by Franklin, a dogcatcher and Stout's boyfriend. Paws uses his magic to rescue them, and they vow to help him find Santa in hopes of getting off the naughty list.
Learning of the situation, Eli and his dog Eddy go to New York and recruit local Boy Scout Jimmy to help. Eventually, they find Gus and get him to return Santa's crystal to them. However, Santa soon lands in the hospital after being without his crystal too long. Meanwhile, Paws meets Quinn and is secretly brought back to the orphanage, where he befriends the girls and uses his magic to give them Christmas cheer.
Stout discovers this and locks Will in the basement along with Paws, stealing Paws's crystal and Quinn's late mother's angel ornament. Will hears Paws speak and regains her Christmas spirit, but without his crystal, Paws reverts to a stuffed animal form by the next morning. When Stout discovers this, she assumes Paws escaped and unknowingly throws him in the incinerator before going on a date with Franklin. Eli and the girls narrowly rescue and revive Paws as Jimmy arrives and tells Eli that Santa is at Hucklebuckle Toys. Will and Quinn come along with Haggis, Rasta and T-Money.
That evening, Stout and Franklin return to the orphanage and are met by Mrs. Gibson, who informs them that she learned of the former's negligent nature by receiving a phone call from Eli. Despite her attempts to excuse her absence, Stout is fired and Gibson takes over the orphanage.
After explaining the situation to everyone, Will and Quinn leave to help Santa. They reunite him with his crystal, but its magic has been too used up to work. Paws sacrifices his magic to heal Santa, reverting to a stuffed animal form once more. The next morning Santa regains his health and he, Eli and Eddy rush back to the North Pole and the main crystal, reviving Paws as a full-grown dog named Santa Paws.
Back in New York, James and Kate return Quinn and Will to the orphanage, but at Gibson's suggestion, they decide to adopt them. Haggis, Rasta and T-Money stow away in a mail truck to the North Pole and become official elf dogs. Gus brings the money he received while working as a charity Santa to the orphanage, and Gibson invites him to spend the holiday with them. The next day, James and Kate inform Mr. Stewart that they have decided to keep the store and continue the Hucklebuckle legacy. As Stewart leaves, he speaks to Hucklebuckle's spirit, wishing him a Merry Christmas and that his wish has been fulfilled.
Angela Walker, writing for ChristianCinema.com, gave the DVD 3 stars out of 5, but said that the film fits the normal Disney DVD formula. She went on to say that the film was predictable and clichéd, but that kids would enjoy it and that the film adds to the "spirit of Christmas". [1]
A sequel, Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups , was released on November 20, 2012.
Mrs. Claus is the legendary wife of Santa Claus, the Christmas gift-bringer in Western Christmas tradition.
Motion pictures featuring Santa Claus constitute their own subgenre of the Christmas film genre. Early films of Santa revolve around similar simple plots of Santa's Christmas Eve visit to children. In 1897, in a short film called Santa Claus Filling Stockings, Santa Claus is simply filling stockings from his pack of toys. Another film called Santa Claus and the Children was made in 1898. A year later, a film directed by George Albert Smith titled Santa Claus was created. In this picture, Santa Claus enters the room from the fireplace and proceeds to trim the tree. He then fills the stockings that were previously hung on the mantle by the children. After walking backward and surveying his work, he suddenly darts at the fireplace and disappears up the chimney.
Fred Claus is a 2007 American Christmas comedy film directed by David Dobkin, screenplay and a story by Dan Fogelman and Jessie Nelson, and starring Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Miranda Richardson, John Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates, Trevor Peacock, Ludacris, and Kevin Spacey. The film was first announced in October 2005 with Mike Mitchell attached to direct. The film was released in the United States on November 9, 2007 by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is loosely based on the poem "A legend of Santa and his brother Fred" written by Donald Henkel. It received negative reviews from critics and grossed $97 million worldwide against the production budget of $100 million.
The Secret World of Santa Claus is a French–Canadian children's animated television show. It is syndicated to several countries worldwide, including Teletoon in Canada, and Super RTL in Germany, and is generally seen every December during the holiday season. On December 25, 1999, Christmas Day, The Secret World of Santa Claus marathon took place from 6:00am to 7:00pm. As of 2013, it has been released on 2 DVDs from Cinedigm in the US.
The Story of Holly and Ivy is a 1958 children's book written by Rumer Godden. On first publication it was illustrated by Adrienne Adams, but later editions were illustrated by Barbara Cooney; the British Puffin edition is illustrated by Sheila Bewley. The story treats the simultaneous events of wishing for love, in Ivy, a young orphaned girl, and Holly, a Christmas doll.
Annie is a 1999 American musical-comedy-drama television film from The Wonderful World of Disney, adapted from the 1977 Broadway musical of the same name by Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin, and Thomas Meehan, which in turn is based on the 1924 Little Orphan Annie comic strip by Harold Gray. It is the first remake and the second film adaptation of the musical following the 1982 theatrical film starring Aileen Quinn, Carol Burnett, and Albert Finney.
Christmas Is Here Again is a 2007 American animated Christmas musical-comedy-fantasy-adventure film produced by Easy To Dream Productions, Renegade Animation, and 20th Century Fox Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The first feature film to be produced by Renegade Animation, it was co-written, co-produced and directed by Robert Zappia. Narrated by Jay Leno, the film features the voices of Edward Asner, Kathy Bates, Madison Davenport, Colin Ford, Brad Garrett, Andy Griffith, Shirley Jones, Norm Macdonald, and Daniel Roebuck, and marked Asner's fourth role in a Christmas-themed film after the 1977 film The Gathering, the 1999 film Olive, the Other Reindeer and the 2003 film Elf, though unlike the latter two films, he does not play Santa.
Noddy is a live-action/animated children's television series based on Enid Blyton's children's book series of the same name featuring the animated episodes from Noddy's Toyland Adventures. The show was broadcast from 7 September 1998 to 11 December 1999 and broadcast on TVOntario and CBC Television in Canada.
Barbie in a Christmas Carol is a 2008 computer-animated Christmas film directed by William Lau and written by Elise Allen. Produced by Rainmaker Entertainment, it was given a limited theatrical release by Kidtoon Films on November 1, 2008 and was later released to DVD 3 days later. It premiered on British and Irish television via its Nick Jr. regional variant on December 23, 2011. The 14th entry in the Barbie film series, it is based on Charles Dickens's 1843 novel and features the voice of Kelly Sheridan as Barbie, with Morwenna Banks as Eden Starling.
Santa Buddies, also known as Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws, is a 2009 American Christmas comedy film. It is the fourth installment of the Air Buddies spin-off series as well as the ninth film in the Air Bud franchise. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 24, 2009. Tom Bosley's appearance in the film was his final role before his death in 2010.
Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups is a 2012 Christmas adventure film directed by Robert Vince and produced by Anna McRoberts. It is the sequel to The Search for Santa Paws (2010). The Santa Pups save Christmas around the world. The film was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD, Blu-ray, and as a film download on November 20, 2012.
Rincón de Luz is a fictional orphanage and the primary setting for the first four, and the last two seasons of the Argentine television series Chiquititas. The exceptions are Chiquititas Season Five, where the story takes place in a granary, and Chiquititas Sin Fin, in which the children have a different home.
Little Orphan Annie is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film directed by John S. Robertson, and written by Wanda Tuchock and Tom McNamara. It is based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray. The film stars Mitzi Green, Buster Phelps, May Robson, Matt Moore, and Edgar Kennedy. The film was released on November 4, 1932, by RKO Pictures.
Santa's Apprentice is a 2010 French-Australian animated Christmas film produced and animated by Gaumont-Alphanim. Avril Stark Entertainment and Cartoon Saloon provided additional animation for the film. It is based on the animated TV series SantApprentice.
The Magic Snowflake is a 2013 animated Christmas adventure comedy film made by Gaumont Animation. This full-length animated feature film was co-produced with Snipple Animation and Dapaco Productions. This is a sequel to the 2010 animated film Santa's Apprentice.
Billy Chapman is a fictional character in the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise. Created by writers Paul Caimi and Michael Hickey, the character serves as the protagonist and antivillain of the first film, Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), and is featured in flashbacks in the sequel, Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987).
The Christmas Chronicles is a 2018 American Christmas comedy film directed by Clay Kaytis from a screenplay by Matt Lieberman. The film stars Kurt Russell, Judah Lewis, Darby Camp, Lamorne Morris, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, and Oliver Hudson. It is the first installment in The Christmas Chronicles film series. The film was produced by 1492 Pictures and Wonder Worldwide and was released on November 22, 2018, on Netflix.
Santa Claus is a 1912 fantasy silent film in which a little girl dreams that she goes to Toyland where she helps Santa Claus in his workshop.
The Christmas Chronicles 2 is a 2020 American Christmas comedy film directed and produced by Chris Columbus, who wrote the screenplay with Matt Lieberman. A sequel to the 2018 film The Christmas Chronicles, it features Kurt Russell reprising his role as Santa Claus. Also reprising their roles are Goldie Hawn, Darby Camp, Judah Lewis, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley, with new cast members Julian Dennison, Jahzir Bruno, Tyrese Gibson, Sunny Suljic, Darlene Love, and Malcolm McDowell. The film had a limited theatrical release before moving to Netflix on November 25, 2020.
The Magic Crystal, also released as Santa's Magic Crystal and The Elf that Rescued Christmas in the UK, is a 2011 Finnish-Belgian computer-animated Christmas film directed by Antti Haikala from a screenplay by Haikala, Bob Swain, Dan Wicksman, Nuria Wicksman and Alessandro Liggieri. The film is part of a unified multimedia concept developed by Mikael Wahlfors, which also includes Andrew Bernhardt's Special Patrol children's books, the Italian-produced animated series Red Caps, and the mobile app World Polar Heroes. The Magic Crystal was produced by the Epidem ZOT, Aranéo and Skyline Animation.