Overview: Take a fantastic journey with your beloved Buddy friends to the magical world of the North Pole! Join The Buddies (Budderball, B-Dawg, Rosebud, Buddha and Mudbud) in a wonderfully wacky twist on a classic Christmas favorite.

Blu ray/DVD Verdict: We can all breathe a big sigh of relief now that yet another licensed character franchise has saved Christmas from being destroyed. This time, it was the cute little technically-enabled-to-talk puppies from Disney's video series.

Christmas is either under siege from a bad person or a lack of spirit in these stories. This time, it's spirit that's under attack, with a general sense of lethargy and disillusion. Forgive me for spoiling the ending, saved by, as Scrappy Doo always says, "Puppy power!" (no, he does not appear in this film; that's another franchise).

I had no idea that Santa Claus had a canine business partner with the voice of Tom Bosley! But then, I also couldn't help thinking, when Santa entered the scene, the crowd would yell "Norm!" since Mr. George Wendt portrayed Kris Kringle with astonishing similarity to his Cheers TV character.

Sarcasm and snippiness aside, there are some pleasant aspects to Santa Buddies. Christopher Lloyd, who never phones in a performance and tackles each role with intensity and intelligence, brings quality to the Scrooge-like dog catcher. Danny Woodburn carries much of the film as the head elf and Ben Giroux embodies the "over it" aspect of the holiday as a retail elf.

The North Pole & Santa's workshop were also nicely realized, and would be especially vivid in Blu-Ray. For a film of this kind, there is certainly a limited budget and clearly most of it was budgeted for these scenes (the cost of which may have inspired the filmmakers to overextend the film's conclusion when it seemed to be already resolved). The musical score was nice, too, with some original songs and a full chorus. Such touches add richness to the overall experience.

The extras were not plentiful beyond some sing-alongs and a music video. I would, and the kids would have, enjoyed a making-of feature, considering the somewhat expanded nature of this particular Buddies entry. Another nice idea might have been to have a "video fireplace" type feature with the cute puppies being cute, to leave on when during the holiday festivities. You could turn it on during those family get togethers to avert the pitfalls -- not that there are any, are there? [G.E.] This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

Sing-Along to Christmas Carols With the Buddies - (3:29)
"Santa Claus is Comin' To Town" Music Video - (3:29) A music video featuring Steve Rushton singing "Santa Claus is Comin' To Town".