If the only thing you want for Christmas is a good doggy (or two) and a movie that won’t put their lives in mortal danger, then keep reading for my review of the latest film from A Dog’s Purpose creative duo W. Bruce Cameron and Cathryn Michon.
Yes that’s right! The holidays, or at least the film’s capturing the holiday spirit, are upon us once again and Netflix has several movies on their slate ready to have us cuddled up by the fire and ready to open the gift of romance, drama, laughs, and, in the case of their first film of Netflix-Mas 2026, a cute pup helping a family in crisis.
Based on W. Bruce Cameron’s 2020 novel of the same name and directed by his wife/screenwriter partner Cathryn Michon, A Dog’s Perfect Christmas is narrated by a wise old basset hound named Winstead (voiced by “Tires” standout Thomas Haden Church), who gives his ground level perspective of the past and present of the growing & chaotic Goss family. Two Christmases after losing his wife, grandfather Sander Goss (played by past A Dog’s Journey franchise performer Dennis Quaid) is grieving, grumpy, and increasingly at odds with his teenage figure skating granddaughter, Ello (Brooke Lena Johnson). Then a sudden emergency threatens to ruin the holiday season: Ello’s mother, Juliana, falls ill and is placed in an induced coma, throwing the family into turmoil. As Ello and Sander struggle to keep the household together, the arrival of a lively Corgi puppy named Ruby might be the only thing capable of galvanizing them for the holiday season.
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas. (L to R) Brooke Lena Johnson as Ello and Ethan Loomis as Sean in A Dog’s Perfect Christmas. Cr. Bettina Strauss/Netflix ©2026.
The film also stars “This Is Us” star Milo Ventimiglia as overworked dad Hunter, Kathleen Rose Perkins (‘Til Death) as ill-stricken mother Juliana, Mary Steenburgen (Elf) as the dog loving widow Claire, and Jennifer Tilly (Bride of Chucky) as high energy love seeker Lucille. There are also multiple pups who play the aforementioned Winstead (both young and older versions) and Ruby with some being named after the Royal Family.
Besides the incredible news for dog lovers that no pups will die on or off screen to make this family drama match some of the franchise’s past experience, the finer aspects of A Dog’s Perfect Christmas revolve around the core themes of the resilience of families in times of grief & hardship, our ability as people to find what moves us forward, and, more importantly, figuring out what is most important in our lives that maybe we took for granted when it was around us all along. Even better, the story delivers these core themes through multiple age brackets and family dynamics, which makes for an easy watch for the entire family to enjoy.
The most genuine of the family dynamics by far is the relationship between Dennis Quaid’s Grandpa Sander and his granddaughter Ello. Watching the evolution of a surly & struggling older man ready to give up into a strong patriarch ready to live, love, and lead again guided by the needs of his granddaughter during the hardest time of her life make for the sweetest, strongest, and most heartfelt moments in the film. While some of the other relationships in the film seem forced and far too convenient to reach max tear-soaked potential (the Ello/Sean relationship perhaps), Quaid’s grizzled to grinning Sander and Johnson’s teen drama queen turned head of household Ello mesh together in honest and earned ways that reenforce the best of what families can do for each other when everything seems to go horribly wrong at the exact wrong time. Their conversation on denial as a strategy to move forward during a particularly challenging time in Ello’s mother’s hospitalization is the best scene in the film with a poignant and strong message of surviving by any means necessary; and sometimes those means are the official food of denial: burgers.
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas. Dennis Quaid as Sander in A Dog’s Perfect Christmas. Cr. Diyah Pera/Netflix ©2026
While the movie has its flaws, particularly in the romantic entanglements that don’t involve the always adorable Mary Steenburgen, A Dog’s Perfect Christmas will most likely be a hit in your house for the multitude of people this story aims to please. People who love Christmas, Doggies, Romance (when done right), and a tinge of spirituality are certainly served well, as well as, those who love tidy family dramas that won’t leave you stung by tragedy. Harmless with the right amount of heart is probably the proper register to kick off the holiday movie watching season.
Watch A Dog’s Perfect Christmas If You Like
- A Dog’s Purpose
- A Dog’s Way Home
- A Dog’s Journey
- Remarkably Bright Creatures
MVP of A Dog’s Perfect Christmas
Dennis Quaid & Brooke Lena Johnson as Sander & Ello Goss
“You know, I think burgers are probably the official food of denial.” This is by far the best line of dialogue in the best exchange in the whole movie between the strongest evolving bond in the whole movie. Quaid and Johnson give us the most to take away from this story with a strength that only family bonds can provide and a performance that rings true.
An adequate holiday time family drama with a light touch, A Dog’s Perfect Christmas utilizes the finer qualities of its deep and noteworthy cast, particularly Quaid & Johnson, to get just enough heart and humanity from its all-too-perfectly convenient plot construction. But also, Ruby is adorable!