Puppy Love (2012 TV Movie) User Reviews

Cute and Likable

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 26 October 2014]

Single mom (Candace Cameron Bure) gets her lonely daughter (Katie L. Hawkins) a shelter dog. The little girl and the pooch become fast friends. But -- uh oh -- turns out the dog already has an owner (Victor Webster). He shows up wanting his dog back. Of course he can't bring himself to tear the dog away from the little girl, so he agrees to "share custody" with her. Gradually he and the pretty mom get close and, wouldn't you know it, fall in love.

Candace Cameron Bure, the reigning queen of made-for-TV movies, is likable and lovely as ever in this (despite an unfortunate haircut). Her chemistry with costar Victor Webster is nice. For his part, Webster is charming and handsome. All too often these made-for-TV flicks fail because the male lead is dull as ditchwater. Katie L. Hawkins is adorable and easy to sympathize with. I see no credit on IMDb listing his real name but the dog did a great job. Hallmark movies don't strain your brain but that's what we love about them. This is a simple love story with a little drama that you know ahead of time will be very predictable. But movies like this are for people who like happy endings and don't want to take chances on whatever messed-up stuff Hollywood calls romance these days.

Man's Best Friend

[boblipton · 6/10 · 9 September 2012]

When minor league ballplayer Victor Webster's dog runs away, he is adopted by Candace Cameron's Bure's daughter and eventually they all fall in love.

Dogs have been a mainstay of movies since 1905's RESCUED BY ROVER and the large Heinz 57 that plays Jake the dog in this movie is a charmer. His on screen poor training provides most of jokes and tensions in this movie.

In the midst of the amiably plotted story, we are offered some useful lessons on how to train a dog. Since some of the other reviews of Hallmark Channel movies indicate it is watched by older people with their children and grandchildren and each commercial break offers a message urging people to adopt a homeless pet.... well, let's hope that they do.

Fun dog

[Jackbv123 · 5/10 · 13 October 2020]

Yes the dog was the star of the movie, or at least the best part. The kid wasn't bad either.

Actually the leads were OK too with a couple of exceptions. The animosity went on a little too long and Ben's meanness with the shoes was uncalled for and out of place. Then as happens way too often in these movies, characters do a reversal of feelings almost instantly with very little explanation for the change. The ending was generally what you'd expect but there wasn't enough relationship established to justify it. But that's what you get in a TV movie especially when time is spent on other characters like the dog and Caitlin.

There's really no big highs or lows and the only real problem or conflict popped up out of nowhere and was quickly resolved.

Inaccuracies drove me nuts

[caseybones · 5/10 · 2 February 2013]

First of all, this is pretty standard Hallmark fare. You can see the entire plot unfolding in the first 15 minutes and there is nothing new here. Man meets woman, man and woman hate each other, man and woman feud, man and woman compromise, man and woman fall in love. Adorable child and dog added to the mix for good measure (and the dog IS adorable).

But what drove me nuts was the totally incorrect presentation of clicker or positive reinforcement training. Couldn't they have had at least one dog training adviser on the set? It bugged me so much that it distracted me no end. Of course, I didn't miss much because I knew the ending right off the bat.

Same old, same old for Hallmark.

Love it, love it, hurrah for Puppy Love!

[inkblot11 · 8/10 · 31 March 2014]

Megan (Candace Cameron Bure) is moving cross country with her very reluctant daughter Caitlin (Katie Hawkins). Having received a great job offer as a professor at a small college in California, Megan is excited but Caitlin already misses her former friends. It is the beginning of summer and Megan hopes the three months will help get Cait settled. Yet, the young girl is sad. To cheer her up, Megan takes her to a dog shelter, with the hopes that adopting a small, well-behaved dog will help ease the pain. Ho ho, Caitlin falls immediately for a rambunctious sheepdog who has just come into the place. There is no use arguing her case, Megan realizes, this is the dog for her offspring. Alas, trouble comes at once. Not only is Prince a chewer, but, worse, he really belongs to a traveling minor league baseball player. This athlete, Ben (Viktor Webster) had boarded the dog with a close friend but Prince, er, Jake, was too clever for the pal and broke loose. After a fruitless, weeklong search, the two males end up at the shelter where they leave flyers about a missing dog. This prompts the shelter to call Megan and tell her what's what. As Ben comes to retrieve Jake, it suddenly becomes clear that Caitlin will be sad to lose the dog, too. And, as Ben is still roaming from place to place as his schedule demands, Caitlin is the perfect dogsitter. What could be better than sharing the dog, at least for the time being? Despite Ben's handsome face, he and Megan get off to a bad start, although sparks do seem to be whirling through the air. Will Megan fall for Ben? What happens when the season is over and Ben wants his dog back full time? This DARLING movie is yet again a bonafide winner from Hallmark. How I love that company, they make the best flicks! What could be better than fetching leading ladies and men, cute kids, adorable dogs, a great setting, and a keep-em-guessing romance? You will love Puppy Love, fans of romantic comedy, so go sniff it out!

Show sent shivers down my spine

[msarajoy · 2/10 · 15 July 2020]

As a starting point, we get the veteran of Hallmark, Candace Cameron Bure, who is, characteristically at times, overly high strung. Then we get Victor Webster who is awllllll man (and so much of it!) and who doesn't love that cutie pooch! Awwww Jake is adorable.

So we have a great playing field (pardon the pun) but then ... omg ... this show sent chills down my spine in a very UN-Hallmark way!

The way the two leads fought over the dog. If you have ever been acrimoniously divorced with a battle over child custody, you will most likely have complete sense of humour failure during this show.

The 'parents' openly yell at each other over the 'custody' (yes, of the dog). They pit the dog against each other by teaching the dog to act out whilst in the other person's custody and the tussle leads to heartbreaking scenes of goodbyes with the dog over and over again.

If these scenes were meant to be funny, then the scriptwriter needs to grow a heart.

A terrific heartwarmer of a film

[jml1988 · 8/10 · 26 November 2019]

This was a joy to watch! I thought the mom came off a little harsh in the beginning but the rest of the acting was superb and fun.

One of the worst

[centava99 · 1/10 · 8 August 2018]

First I have to admit to some bias. I find CCB one of the worst actresses out there. She overemotes every scene that I have a headache from rolling my eyes so much. In this film, however, she wasn't given much to work with. A terrible script, zero chemistry between the actors, going from disdain to love with zero transition of their feelings, and ugh, Webster's hair-like he took some shears and tried to give himself a faux-hawk. Just awful all around. I stayed to the end just so I could write this review with certainty of no redeeming ending. The one star is for promoting animal adoption.

Total garbage movie.

Loved this movie!!

[chrissy_51461 · 10/10 · 20 January 2020]

Candace is one of my favorite actresses from Hallmark and she did an absolutely amazing job with this movie. Very heartwarming and sweet!! Thank you Candace for being such a wonderful person!!

Sweet, cute, and easy to watch...

[FrankWButterfield · 8/10 · 18 May 2020]

This is standard Hallmark fare, which is to say that it's solid but not earth-shattering. It's like a comfy sweater that does its job. The two MCs have good chemistry. The dog puts in a solid performance - LOL. And it's not too, too Hallmark... which is nice. My only comment is that whoever edited the final product included some odd cutaways. But that's not much of anything... Enjoy the show!

Mainly a great family movie

[SunnyDaise · 9/10 · 9 March 2021]

I enjoy this movie but it's so unrealistic that Ben doesn't always recognise his own beloved dog/bark. However I like that the characters try to consider everyone's situations.