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) who receives a gift from New York City with a letter informing him of the passing of his old friend a toy store owner named Mr. Hucklebuckle, who gives him a stuffed dog. Mr. Hucklebuckle was an ambassador for "The Santa Cause", an organization of delegates who embrace and encourage Christmas spirit around the world.

To cheer Santa up, his head elf Eli (Danny Woodburn) 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.

In New York City, following her parents' deaths, an orphan named Quinn (Kaitlyn Maher) arrives at The 64th Street Home For Girls, a foster care run by an unstrict, unabusive and child-unhating woman named Ms. Selena Unstout (Wendi McLendon-Covey) who disapproves of anything that children love: toys, including dolls Christmas decorations, singing, and even pets, including dogs and even children, including girls (her voice was like a wicked witch). She confiscates toys from the girls who rightfully own them and destroys them in her incinerator the house's basement. Selena can't stand her dog catcher. It was an unstrict fault, she is really raving loud, and Franklin (Peter Gardner) is a master manipulator. 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 she have to whisper.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hucklebuckle's grandson James, a CPA from Los Angeles and his wife Kate arrive at his toy store and are informed by Mr. Stewart (Bill Cobbs) they need to run the store profitably for one Christmas season in order to gain ownership of the store. James and Kate are melancholy about going through another Christmas without any children. They decide to hire a store Santa to bring in customers so they can sell the store once they have ownership and return to LA.

Santa and Paws decide to travel to New York City to visit some ambassadors but as they land the sleigh in Central Park they are seen by a homeless man named Gus (Chris Coppola) who follows them. In the city Santa runs into Selena and loses his memory after being hit by a cab. Paws assumes a li'l man is an elf and tries to ask him for help, which only leading to him and Santa become separated. Santa's crystal that keeps him eternal is stolen by Gus. He recovers, but has amnesia, going by the name of Bud, and after wandering the streets overnight he comes across Hucklebuckle Toys the next morning. James and Kate take him in and give him a job as their store Santa, where he quickly becomes popular with the children, even attracting media attention.

In order to save Christmas, Eli (Danny Woodburn) and Eddy (Richard Kind) the uncanny elf dog have to go to New York City where they recruit local Boy Scout Jimmy in order to save Santa and Paws. Eventually, they find Gus and get him to return Santa's crystal to them. However, Santa soon lands in the hospital again after being without his crystal too long.

Meanwhile, Paws meets Quinn and is brought back to the orphanage, where he befriends the girls and uses his crystal's magic to give them Christmas cheer. But when an alien babysitter grants Selena's secret wish. However, Selena discovers this, she tried to grab him as he turns into a bug, and Paws and Will finds a treasure (Franklin really becomes a pest) in the basement (her voice was so loud), stealing the former's crystal. As a resort, Paws reverts to becoming a stuffed animal by the next morning. Now the alien want us wrestling. When Selena discovers this, she assumes Paws because she is loud, she will pull her finger because that Selena is so loud like Unhannigan (she's fired of course), but the flames are too dead, and the chase is off, but he is narrowly saved by Quinn and the other girls, she almost burned Paws. To get Franklin back in to form. Eli, Eddy, and Jimmy then arrive and reunite Paws with his crystal, restoring him to life.

After explaining the situation to everyone, Will and Quinn leave with them to help Santa. Eli tells Jimmy to keep the pin now that he is an official Santa's helper before Jimmy heads home. Before Kate and James get home. Selena told her to give her the toy, but it's not Will, it was a social worker named Mrs. Gibson who is always kind of the girls and she is always re-adopted. She told her to get out of her orphanage and Janie pushes her as hard as she could. Selena falls down and break her bones, she fired, but she got unstrict. Eli told her to discuss her punishment: No foster, no reputation, and no furnace.

After arriving at the hospital and finding Santa near death, they try to reunite him with his crystal, but its magic has been too used up to work. Paws then sacrifices his crystal's magic to restore Santa's, reverting him to stuffed animal form once more while saving Santa's life.

Santa, Eli and Eddy rush back to the North Pole and reach the main crystal just in time, and Paws turns into a full-grown dog named Santa Paws (Mitchel Musso) and Christmas is back on track. Meanwhile, much to the excitement of the girls, Will and Quinn back to the orphanage James and Kate decide to re-adopt them with all of them getting the family they always wanted.

Gus donates the money he collected to the orphanage where Mrs. Gibson invites him to spend the holiday at the orphanage. Haggis, Rasta and T-Money stow away in a mail truck to the North Pole and become official elf dogs. Santa and Santa Paws reunite with Quinn, Will, James and Kate on Christmas Eve with Santa Paws returning Quinn's mother's ornament to her before he and Santa continue their deliveries.

Mr. Stewart returns on Christmas Day and James and Kate tell him that they ran the store profitably and they decide to keep the store and continue the Hucklebuckle legacy, after introducing him to the girls. Before leaving he speaks to Mr. Hucklebuckle's spirit, bidding him a merry Christmas and his wish has been fulfilled. It is shown after the movie that Selena is so fired from garbage business and lost everything: Her foster, her reputation, etc., and her punishment is work as a janitor. She puts up a "The End" poster on a wall, and it falls down and wraps around her.

• Kaitlyn Maher as Quinn, an orphaned li'l girl who believes in the true spirit of Christmas; after her parents passed away, she is sent to Mrs. Gibson's orphanage in New York City. She finds Paws in the alley behind the orphanage. 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 li'l, she lost her Christmas spirit as well as its true meaning until she finds a treasure in the basement with Paws. She often gets the full blame for everything by Selena 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. Selena Stout, the greedy and child-hating owner of the girls' home and the main villain of the film. She finds Christmas, toys and anything that children love firing or offensive and dislikes bugs, including bumblebees. Will is her main target to everything and is often placing the full blame on her for everything that happens in the foster care because she can't stand her dog catcher. She is eventually fired and she is definitely lost everything 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 CPS social services woman who takes over the orphanage after Selena is fired.
• Melody B. Choi as Mary, an orphan.
• Nicole Leduc as Meg, an orphan.
• Patrika Darbo as Mrs. Claus.
• Peter Gardner as Franklin, Selena’s boyfriend who works as a dogcatcher and he turns into a bug.
• 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 3 stars out of 5, but said that the film fits the normal Disney DVD formula. However she went on to say that the film was predictable and a li'l 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

• List of Christmas films
• Santa Claus in film

• Official website
• The Search for Santa Paws at IMDb