Golden Winter is a 2012 family film by The Asylum. A couple leaves their house before they can be evicted, leaving their golden retriever and her five puppies for the pound to pick up. By a series of accidents, the puppies get left behind in the house as their mother is picked up. Said foreclosed house is then broken into by a neighborhood gang who is introducing a new member, Oliver. In short order, the kids find the puppies, and their pedigree papers, and hatch a scheme to sell the puppies. Meanwhile, Oliver decides he needs to reunite the puppies with their mother. One failed attempt of petty crime later, the gang gets involved in the scheme of Freddy Fagan to steal money being donated to the local Boy's Club. Oh, and did we mention this is all set during Christmas and Oliver is dealing with two workaholic parents? And the dogs talk?
Oh, and being a The Asylum work, this direct-to-DVD movie with golden retriever pups is not a holiday themed entry of the Walt Disney Pictures franchise Air Buddies.
This film exhibits the following tropes:
- Chekhov's Gun: At the party, the marshmallow guns and the soccer balls under the tree come into play, the latter a Chekhov's Skill on the part of Oliver, who'd been shown as being interested in soccer as a way to connect to his dad.
- Covers Always Lie: The back of the box promises that the plot involves a bank robbery. Instead, the money is being donated by the bank at a charity event at the Elk's club. Just about every review repeats the mistake by saying that the plot involves a bank robbery.
- Diabolical Dogcatcher: Averted. The people from the pound are quite friendly, and see it as a rescue situation.
- Shout-Out Theme Naming: Of course, Oliver joins a gang and then Frankie Fagan is masterminding a heist.
- Synchro-Vox: A motion-capture version is used to (very unnaturally) move the dog's jaws along with their speaking.
- Talking Animal: All of the dogs, and one cat, are shown to talk. There is no inter-species communication, but the dogs can apparently understand human speech.
- Urine Trouble: Three guesses as to what puppy Tinkle's distinguishing characteristic is.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Oliver gets involved with the gang because he feels neglected by his parents.
