a dog's purpose is to die, apparently

A DOGS PURPOSE

I enjoyed the film. I think anyone who's had a pet would like the film. I liked the cast. After the first super cry moment they hit you again with another moment fairly soon after the first. That was the only one that felt a bit over the top but I enjoyed how the film came back full circle in the end.

Grade - B

They should have that TMZ clip playing over the end credits.

I broke down and saw it. Very nice tribute to the wonderfulness of dogs. I cried, but I fully expected to considering I just lost my dog of 14 years before Christmas .

I'd give it a B+.

A Dog's Purpose didn't work for me. You know it's going to be manipulative, but did it have to be so so heavy handed? This is a story that needed to be told with finesse, and with better pov narration. This is strictly for faithful fans of Reader's Digest dog stories. *D*

... I actually quite enjoyed this lol. Feels like something that would've been made in the 90's.

A Dog's Purpose

Ok, so it's difficult to be harsh about a film as well-intended as A Dog's Purpose, but besides a few charming elements, it is bad film-making. It's one of those films that doesn't believe in people being happy unless they're smiling all of the time. In the first act where it's Ethan and "Bailey Bailey Bailey Bailey Bailey" (lol), the smiles and laughing are overbearingly annoying. The dad is a miserable drunk. The mother is oh so perfect. The boy and the dog have the type of relationship that you see in cartoons. It's the idealistic 50s. I couldn't stand the bad acting throughout the film. The cop. The black couple. Ethan young. Ethan teen. The mother. The father. ESPECIALLY the father. The dogs outshine them all. And each segment feels rushed and disposable. The first segment is so utterly obvious. He breaks his foot so loses his Michigan State scholarship (and because I've seen the trailer) eventually winds up being Dennis Quaid.

The film has a few touching moments, and the last segment is the most interesting because of Dennis Quaid. The likeness to his teen counterpart is uncanny. Josh Gad's doggie voice-over is the only thing in the film that truly works. It is funny. It could have been funnier, however it was regularly bringing me chuckles. The film feels around 45 minutes long, which felt rushed. A story of this length (which is, as I could tell, told over the span of 55 years) should be way longer than 100 minutes. There are lots of cute shots of puppies and dogs doing funny things, which is nice but since I've never owned a dog I didn't react as emotionally as I should have. Unfortunately bad acting and bad storytelling plague this otherwise innocent, cute film.

C-

My condolences.

This was BAD in terms of movie making but there is a great undelying story here which could have been done better here. The final act and romance is just too quick and the purpose which the movie wants to fulfill is finished in about 10 minutes. The side stories are much better but the main story is just weak (even though I knew what I was going in) and poorly acted overall. They really needed to put more effort into the end.

3/10.

This was very enjoyable. Funny and cute.

B+

As cute as this was, this year's Megan Leavey does the dog movie better and in less hokey fashion.

The writing and Josh Gad's narration make the furry lead character look like a doll/AI robot rather than a spiritual and lively animal. The movie also lacks a coherent theme to tie the whole journey together. Really disappointing project coming from Lasse Hallström after the emotional gem Hachi: A Dog's Tale.

- 61/100 (C)

Not to mention another emotional gem by Hallström: My Life As A Dog.

This quite caught me by surprise about how bad it ended up to be. The human parts are just so terribly written, without any depth and cliched. Also I quite disliked Gadd as the voice of the dog so that didn't help. Dennis Quaid is cool, and having dogs on the screen is cute, but it just feels too manufactured and not pleasant to watch. While I love dogs and have one myself I couldn't get invested in this.

Tree is completely on point that this especially feels disappointing as Hallstrom made the really good Hachi before.

D

Sorry to hear that Mike