Posted in: Movies, Review | Tagged: a dog's purpose, dennis quaid, film, Review

The Bill Reviews: A Dog's Purpose – It's Sappy, It's Sweet, But Fails To Really Connect

A Dog's Purpose is a family-friendly and heart-tugging movie specially crafted for dog lovers. Director Lasse Hallström's whistful tells a story of how a dog finds it's purpose in bonding with a boy Ethan and then goes from doggy life to doggy life always thinking about Ethan and how he felt most happy and at home when with him, until he finally finds him again towards the latter part of his life.

The film's narrator is the dog, named as he thinks it to be – Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey (voiced by Josh Gad who was also the voice of Olaf in Frozen). The boy that bonds him is named Ethan and played at various ages by (Bryce Gheisar as a boy, K.J. Apa as a teen, and Dennis Quaid as an adult). Bailey is an amusing narrator, giving his perspective on various events through his somewhat limited understanding as a Dog – when Ethan and girlfriend Hannah (played as a teen by Britt Robertson and as an adult by Peggy Lipton) are kissing, Bailey gets curious if they're fighting over food and tries to see if she is hiding any in her mouth.

Over the course of the film, Bailey goes through 5 lives (and 4 deaths). If you're a dog fan, and especially if you've ever lost a dog that was a companion, you'll find yourself tearing up more than a few times over the course of the film. In our screening there was a large number of children in the audience, and they were crying at near-Where The Red Fern Grows levels. They left happy, but for parents going to see it, be ready for there to be some tears along the way.

The strangest life is the first one in the film and sets perhaps an unintentionally dark tone, because it's only a few minutes long, and is only a puppy being born, then within a short time is caught as a puppy by the local pound, and it then fades to black – giving the implication that he's taken to the pound and put down. It does set up the idea of the dog jumping from life to life as it then jumps into Bailey's main life where he first meet's Ethan, but that could have been established later, or differently. But that kind of put the viewer off for a time as they have to then settle down to the idea that, ok, they just killed off the dog faster than they did in John Wick. It is subtle enough that the kids probably won't even understand that first segment, so parents are safe there.

What needs to be touched on next is the scandal which arose last week when a video emerged on TMZ showing on-set footage during one of the lives – it's the life immediately after Bailey as a German Shepard K-9 unit. The footage showed the dog recoiling in fear and anxiety when being put into a pool of raging water (powered by 8 outboard motors) to represent water at the base of a small dam. Viewers decried it as animal cruelty, and the on-set supervisors responsible for overseeing animal welfare have been suspended. PETA jumped into the mix and has called for a general boycott of the film (as well as boycotting of all films that make use of animals). Earlier this week, one of the film's producers wrote a lengthy piece on his own investigation into the event, and to me anyway, it reads as an honest and candid assessment of what happened. In short that the incident did happen, that it shouldn't have and was inexcusable on the conduct of the handler, but he also went into the context before and after, and it put me at peace with going to see the film itself. Before his article, I will admit I didn't know if I'd be able to give the film and objective evaluation, but after reading it, it cleared my mind (at least enough to be able to go watch it).

When the scene finally came during the film where Bailey as the K-9 chases a kidnapper and his victim across a bridge, the victim falls into the raging water below, and Bailey jumps in after her. I was thinking about the TMZ video, sure, and it pulled me out of it. However at least for me, it passed a few minutes later and I settled back into the film.

The films largest challenge is that from life to life – and from segment to segment, while Bailey and Ethan bond, the film never bonds with the audience. We like the characters (human and dog) well enough, but we don't care as much as we really should to be able to elevate the film to the level it could have been. Kids cry because they're seeing a dog pass away from old age, adults cry because they're remembering the loss of their own pets, but we don't really feel empathy for any of the humans. That's where either the script, or the direction lets us down. Most people coming to see the movie will because they know what they're getting into – they know they're probably going to cry – you don't get an audience more open to losing themselves in the characters and their emotions, but in the end it's not because of feeling what the human characters in the story feel, but rather that we're feeling our own thoughts on losing a beloved pet.

I would point out that the film could also have a cathartic value as well, for anyone who is in the midst of dealing with an end of life animal, either from age or health. A Dog's Purpose may very much be to help give a nice whimsical idea to help us cope with our loss (and especially if you have kids who could use help with dealing with the idea). If the movie does just that, it has done a service, for which I think some people will be grateful.

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