Hallmark: Viewers Seem To Despise This Talking-Dog-Based Christmas Movie
The Hallmark Channel has long been known for its never-ending roster of Christmas movies. Playing in a loop starting with a Countdown to Christmas in late October and running until January 1, Hallmark Christmas movies usually feature a boy-meets-girl formula with a happy ending. But some of the network's made-for-TV films have been known to put a focus on four-legged friends — who can forget the popular "Nine Lives of Christmas" movies that aired years apart or the one that was literally about "A Dog Named Christmas"?
While there have been plenty of sweet woofs and meows over the years, not every Hallmark animal flick has been a hit with viewers. In fact, one movie, in particular, has garnered a resounding thumbs down from Hallmark movie lovers everywhere. The movie in question is "A Christmas Wedding Tail," and not even a cast that includes Jennie Garth, Jay Mohr, and Mr. Christmas Movie himself, Tom Arnold, can save it.
"A Christmas Wedding Tail" first aired in 2011, so there are 12 years of reviews on it — and a lot of them are not good. With its talking dogs (whose mouths don't actually move, presumably due to a non-existent special effects budget), it's a bit of a "Look Who's Talking Now" knockoff set at Christmastime. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has a dismal 14% audience score (translation: "rotten"), and a review by Common Sense Media describes the movie as an "artless time waster with talking dogs and grieving kids."
Viewers panned A Christmas Wedding Tail
"A Christmas Wedding Tail" follows a lovestruck Labrador named Rusty (voiced by Jay Mohr), his paramour poodle Cheri (voiced by Nikki Cox), and their conveniently widowed-with-kids owners, Susan (Jennie Garth) and Jake (Brad Rowe). When the humans fall in love and decide to combine their families a la "The Brady Bunch," chaos ensues and the two talking canines step into action to save the wedding day.
With a lousy 4.3 user rating on IMDb, it seems most viewers' tails weren't wagging after seeing the film. User P2n-E-W1s3 wrote, "Damn this movie is BAD," before slamming the lack of original plot and poor production techniques. "Could this movie BE any worse? I think not," wrote IMDb user sanja_milosevska. They went on to add, "Nothing original, no actual plot, and the acting is so superficial ... it feels like they're reading the screenplay all along." And user kaspergeorgio said, "Really bad movie! I'm surprised that Jennie Garth would ever do a movie like this!"
Garth is actually doggone proud of the movie. In an interview on "The Billy Bush Show," she said, "This was a fun Christmas movie with talking dogs, and it's a great movie that the whole family can watch. I'm happy to be a part of something that my kids can actually sit down and watch with me."