A Dog’s Perfect Christmas review: Netflix kicks off holiday movie season with a whimper

Dennis Quaid is wasted in a predictable drama with a cute basset hound and not much more US election results may still be trickling in, but Netflix has already made the call: ’tis the season! Just four days into November, with leaves still on the trees and much of the country stuck in T-shirt weather, the streaming service has decided to hit full-send on the longest possible window for cookie-cutter cheer and fake snow; as of now, Christmas is a go. And with an opening salvo like the plainly titled A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, one would think the company has given itself a running head start to the holiday mass market. Or, at least, a cute-enough face, courtesy of one sweet basset hound and a corgi puppy, to possibly work as a naked attention ploy. A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, from A Dog’s Purpose creator W Bruce Cameron, does at least have the decency to set the scene before Thanksgiving and acknowledge said ploy; if there is one thing a grumbling man named “Sander Goss” (a constipated-looking Dennis Quaid) and I can agree on, it’s that they keep starting Christmas too early. Continue reading...