Karleigh Santry
"Snow Buddies" is a great family movie. It continues the story of "Air Buddies" which was released last year. The movie follows the lives of five golden retriever pups, offspring of Buddy, the first "Air Bud" from the original "Bud" movie which was first released in 1998.

The movie begins with the five pups (Budder Ball, Buddha, Rose Bud, Mud Bud, and B-DAWG) that meet up for a play date in the park at their hometown, Fernfield, Washington. Persuaded by his stomach, Budder Ball (the largest of the pups), heads off into a truck about to ship ice cream to Ferntiuktuk, Alaska. The other pups follow and end up being shipped with the ice cream to Alaska, where their adventures begin.

The movie also follows another main character, Adam Bilson, who is a young boy who dreams of being a musher like his father.  His father forbids him to do so because of an accident that occurred while racing, which caused him to lose his two lead dogs. Adam's father hasn't raced again since the accident.  Adam shares his dream of dog-sledding with his Alaskan husky pup named Shasta (voiced by Dylan Sprouse from Disney Channel's "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody").

Christmas is only two weeks away and all Adam wants is a dog sled team.  The odds of this aren't looking too good until Shasta comes across the "Buddies" who are lost and trying to find a way home. Shasta tells the pups of their troubles and the "Buddies" agree to help and start a dog-sled team in hopes of sledding their way to the airport to fly back home.

With the help of the legendary sled-dog, Talon, the six puppies train in hopes of becoming a great dog-sled team.  On Christmas day Adam opens all his presents, and though he grinned and seemed to be happy, he was thoroughly disappointed to not have received what he has been praying for, a dog-sled team. Shasta then gets Adam to come to the shed where the well-trained "Buddies" have been hiding. With the discovery of the pups, Adam is overjoyed and continues their training in hopes to compete in the Annual Ferntiuktuk Dog Sled Race, the most difficult dog-sled course in Alaska, the race which Adam's father's "accident" occurred a year before, the race in which he lost his two lead dogs, Shasta's parents. The rest of the movie follows the hardships the pups encounter while trying to compete in the Annual Ferntiuktuk Dog Sled Race.

The DVD also includes many bonus features. It includes a "tour" of the set in the "Buddies" perspective, which gives an adorable twist to the average behind the scenes feature. There is also a bonus feature called "Snow Buddies: The Magic of Visual Effect" which gives you a behind the scenes look on the visual effects used in the movie. It also features Bloopers from the movie, as well as a music video (a hip-hop remake of "Lean On Me") featuring Mitchel Musso from Disney Channels hit series "Hannah Montana".

Overall, it was a pretty good movie, with the classic Disney theme, "The dreams that you wish will come true".  The adorable talking puppies make the movie even better. The movie is obviously aimed more towards a young viewing audience. I would recommend this DVD for any parent to purchase for their child.

Video Info...
Suggested retail price: U.S. $29.99, Canada $36.99
Feature run time: 88 minutes
Available: Feb 5th, 2008