The Search for Santa Paws

At the North Pole, all the elves prepare for Christmas and arrange a birthday celebration for Santa Claus (Richard Riehle)

To cheer Santa up, Eli uses the great Christmas icicle to bring the stuffed dog to life. Santa names his puppy Paws (Zachary Gordon) and tells him that they will be the best of friends for all eternity.

Meanwhile, following her parents deaths a young orphan named Quinn (Kaitlyn Maher) arrives at a combination foster home/orphanage run by a strict and abusive woman named Ms. Stout (Wendi McLendon-Covey) who disapproves of anything that children love: toys, Christmas decorations, singing, and even pets, including dogs. She confiscates toys from the girls who rightfully own them. Despite the strict rules she has to respect while staying at the foster home, Quinn eventually befriends the girls, including Janie (G. Hannelius) and Willamina "Will" (Madison Pettis) who has lost her Christmas spirit since the death of her own biological parents when she was Quinn's age.

Santa and Paws travel to New York City but and gets hit by a cab, loses his memory. Paws assumes a man is an elf and tries to ask him for help only leading to him and Santa become separated. Santa's crystal that keeps him eternal is stolen by a homeless man named Gus (Chris Coppola), it's up to his new friend, to save him.

In order to save Christmas, Eli (Danny Woodburn) and Eddy (Richard Kind) the uncanny elf dog have to go to New York City in order to save Santa and Paws. However, when Santa (Bud) is in the hospital, it takes the help of Quinn and Will to save Santa.

When Kate and James take Bud from the hospital, Paws tells Eli to put his crystal next to Santa, but then he wakes up to find that Paws is a stuffed animal.

They rush back to the North Pole and Paws turns into a full-grown dog named Santa Paws (Mitchel Musso) and Christmas is back on. Much to the excitement of the girls, it is shown afterwards that Ms. Stout is fired from garbage business, loses everything: Her foster, her reputation, etc., and her punishment is work as a janitor. In the end, Will and Quinn are both adopted by James and Kate Hucklebuckle.

• Kaitlyn Maher as Quinn, a young orphaned little girl who believes in the true spirit of Christmas; after her parents passed away, she is sent by Mrs. Gibson-(a CPS social worker) to Ms. Stout's orphanage in New York City. She finds Paws in the alley behind the foster home. She owns a doll of an angel that was given to her by her late mother.
• Madison Pettis as Willamina "Will", the oldest girl out of all the orphans who serves as an older sister figure to Quinn. After her parents died when she was little, she lost her Christmas spirit as well as its true meaning until she accidentally gets stuck in the basement with Paws. She often gets the full blame for everything by Ms. Stout since she is the oldest and holds her accountable for Quinn and all the other girls’ behavior.
• Richard Riehle as Santa Claus.
• Danny Woodburn as Eli, Santa's head elf.
• Wendi McLendon-Covey as Ms. Stout, the greedy owner of the girls' home and the main villain of the film. She finds Christmas, toys and anything that children love annoying or offensive and dislikes children, including girls. Will is her main target to everything and is often placing the full blame on her for everything that happens in the foster home. She is eventually fired as a result of the abusive treatment she has inflicted upon the girls and now works as a janitor as punishment.
• John Ducey as James Hucklebuckle, Kate's husband and grandson of the late Mr. Hucklebuckle.
• Bonnie Somerville as Kate Hucklebuckle, James' open-minded wife.
• Chris Coppola as Augustus "Gus", a poor homeless man who takes Santa's magic crystal, unaware of its power.
• Jonathan Morgan Heit as Jimmy, a boy scout who helps search for Santa.
• G Hannelius as Janie, an orphan who is best friends with Will.
• Michelle Creber as Taylor, an orphan.
• Kathryn Kirkpatrick as Mrs. Gibson, a kind social services woman who takes over the orphanage after Ms. Stout is fired.
• Melody B. Choi as Mary, an orphan.
• Nicole Leduc as Meg, an orphan.
• Patrika Darbo as Mrs. Claus.
• Pete Gardner as Franklin, Ms. Stout’s boyfriend as well as a dogcatcher.
• Bill Cobbs as Mr. Stewart, James and Kate's caseworker who says they must successfully run Hucklebuckle toys profitability for one Christmas season.

Angela Walker, writing for ChristianCinema.com, gave the DVD three stars out of five, but said that the film fits the normal Disney DVD formula. However she went on to say that the film was predictable and a little clichéd, but that kids would enjoy it and that the film adds to the "spirit of Christmas".[1]

A sequel, Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups was released on November 20, 2012.

• Santa Paws

• Official website
• The Search for Santa Paws at IMDb