Better Late Then Never

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Disregard 6 of the 7 bad reviews on this movie. It was an excellent movie with excellent characters and story. Story was based on a book which gives the movie some depth. I only give about 10% of the movies a perfect 10, but this one had that special quality.James Brolin at age 73 as the grandpa. It was just perfect. He played in Marcus Welby at about age 30. In 2016 he was in "I'll be home for Christmas". In this film he has that tough John Wayne presence. At the end of the film a great confrontation with a bad guy- great drama. The grandson was excellent and was the main character with his affection for Tucker the dog. The grandma actually played the grandma on "The Road to Christmas" 2006. She was great in this role, so pleasant. The friend was played by Olivia from Heartland. We also see Dr Crane and Dr Hebert from Doc.This movie had that special bond between boy and dog as well as proud grandparents. The story showed how the boy was building character. In one part the grandpa told him he had to give up Tucker. Now that was a complete surprise, but the drama was intense. Definitely worth the watch.

Christmas with Tucker is supposed to be a prequel to A Dog Named Christmas which itself was adapted into a Hallmark Hall of Fame film back in 2009. I haven't actually read the books these films were based off, so I can't actually compare them, but I can compare the two films.In A Dog Named Christmas, there was a brief flashback involving the farmer's youth days with Tucker that took place around the 1940s. Here in Christmas with Tucker, those youth days are in the current time setting which was 2013. In other words, this film has continuity errors.Honestly, Christmas with Tucker was a So-So Hallmark Christmas film and one of my least favorite Christmas films made by the company. The only good thing I love about it was the great acting by the actors involved with the film, especially Barbara Gordon as the grandmother. If the film's story and most of the characters were given improvements, this would've been a great Christmas film. If I had to choose between this and A Dog Named Christmas, I'll stick with A Dog Named Christmas. I also consider this another Christmas film from Hallmark to watch only once.

I was truly enjoying this movie about a young boy visiting his grandfather's dairy farm for Christmas. The grandson named George fell in love with his grandfather's friend's dog and they bonded.The boy made a trade with the grandfather's drunken friend to save the dog from abuse. He did not know that the trade would be harmful to the owner. George's grandfather made him give back the dog to this mean man because of what was traded. Earlier the dog nearly died being left out in the cold all night with no dog house and the grandfather knew this. How could the grandfather make his grandson give back the dog to this abuser??? Why didn't the grandfather tell the mean friend to keep his end of the deal instead of punishing the grandson and the dog? The movie was lovely and heartwarming up to this point. After that I was disheartened with the movie. The grandfather is telling his grandson to have character in life and here he is giving back a dog to be abused again and even killed. How could Hallmark not see how cruel this was? This ruined the movie for me. I gave it a 5 rating because of the excellent acting alone.

This is a typical Hallmark movie but with a high sap level. Story is OK but fairly predictable. I did watch the whole movie, but wasn't much impressed with the acting. Best actor was "Tucker".The story is basically a 10 year retrospective look at the way the dog "Tucker" came to be part of the McCray family at Christmastime; hence the title for the movie.The writing and acting for this film was, in my opinion, much below the quality of a far better Hallmark presentation such as any of the "Good Witch" movies. I've come to expect a certain degree of sappiness in any of the Hallmark movies, but this movie was a little over the top. On the plus side, like all Hallmark movies, its a wholesome family film with a positive message to share.