The director has stumbled with the latest film in the BarneyCam franchise, "A Very Beazley Christmas." The preceeding films had deftly combined compelling drama, well-timed humor, and a glittering set. This Christmas turkey, however, suffers from a poorly-written and exceedingly bleak script. It is additionally hindered by the miscasting of a wooden Andy Card in a key role.
The premise of the movie is the resentment felt by First Dog Barney that newcomer Miss Beazley is getting all the attention and all the Christmas presents. While in the end Miss Beazley is deservedly dressed down by President Bush for being a media hound, the question of the Christmas presents is left unanswered. Why has Miss Beazley received all the presents and Barney none? Mrs. Bush considers the matter resolved when Barney and Beazley exchange a single present each and makes no reference to Barney's legitimate gripe of having no presents from humans while Beazley has a ton.
After being a good boy and taking the high road by giving his troublesome sister a gift, I had expected Barney to find a pile of presents all his own; or, at the very least, one each from President and Mrs. Bush. In this dark offering, however, virtue is expected to be its own Christmas present -- a tough message for a little dog at Christmas.
Posted by floridacracker at December 8, 2005 12:14 PMAs the proud owner of a Scottish Terrier-American and an ardent, scouring the internet for the next one fan of the White House videos, I have to say:
Weak.
I thought the Spring Garden Tour was the low point, but I guess I was mistaken. Whoever USED to do the videos and update Barney's page DAILY seems to have vanished into the nether regions. What a pity.
Posted by: tree hugging sister at December 9, 2005 05:02 PMI'm a major fan of the BarneyCam series, and this one left me very unsatisfied indeed.
The Spring Garden one, I took as a 'gimme," but the Christmas films I hold to a higher standard -- and with good reason, as they've been excellent.
Until now.
I was shocked when Mrs. Bush gave her greetings to the public that always signal the end in these films. I could NOT believe it was over. No presents for Barney. What are we to make of this?
I also agree that whoever who was in charge previously of the Barney page at Whitehouse.gov did an excellent job. The picture captions were top-notch, and I would check it several times a week. The whole series where Barney was trying to get into the Olympics was terrific.
Posted by: Donnah at December 9, 2005 05:25 PMI confess that I had problems with it as well. The whole thing just seemed so flat and humorless ecxcept for a couple of political jabs. Even the music sucked this time.
And you're right, Barney's webpage has gone down hill. Before it was fun and now it just seems forced.
Posted by: Janette at December 10, 2005 03:54 PM