williamsturek
A film review on A Dog's Purpose
By: William SturekSpoilers Below
There are a couple of words to describe Lasse Hallström's A Dog's Purpose sentimental, heartfelt, and it tugs at the heartstrings. This movie will make even the most hardened person tear up. It is a mix between joy and temporary heartbreak, merriness and some moments of melancholy. If you are a fan of movies with points of happiness but also times of sadness, this is the film for you. The film will make you want to go give your pet a big hug after watching it. Lasse Hallströmn has directed similar movies in the past. He directed Hachi A Dog's Tale in 2009 and My Life as a Dog in 1985. The movie is based off the book by W. Bruce Cameron. This story is about a dog named bailey who passed away and is reincarnated into four different dogs on the way to finding out what a dog's purpose. This is the main question that comes up in the film. Bailey comes back to this question throughout the fill. After each death he tries to answer the question but does not find the answer until he is in his final dog form. Bailey first starts out as a dog for the main character Ethan Montgomery, played by Bryce Ghesiar when he was young, KJ Apa when he was a teenager and Dennis Quaid when Ethan was an adult. Bailey has a tremendous time with ethan throughout ethans childhood, they played games together, they went everywhere together. They were best friends. When Ethan went off to college Bailey felt lonely and sad. He was getting older and it harder for him to move around, they went to the vet and decided it was his time to go. After this life he was reincarnated into the dog Ellie. This life was much different, she was a police dog. On a mission to save a 12 year old girl we are met with the one of the saddest moments in the movie, Ellie(Bailey) gets shot and dies. Bailey is then reincarnated a dog named Tino, he is a corgi. This time he lives a long happy life, he watches his owner find a boyfriend, then get married, and then have children, he then knows its his time to go. Finally he gets reincarnated into a dog named Buddy. He was adopted by these two people that should not have adopted him. This will make you watchers frustrated. They decide to drive buddy very far away from home and leave him there. Buddy then wanders all the way back to where he grew up as Bailey and he finds a much older version of Ethan(Dennis Quaid). Baile is very happy that he finds Ethan again and it's the perfect ending we all needed for this film that had our emotions fluctuating throughout the entirety of the film. Dennis Quaid has played a role like this prior to this movie in The Parent Trap. He is suited well for a character that falls in love and then finds the person or animal. In this movie he found Bailey and his girlfriend he had when he was a teenager, Hannah. Even though he wasn't in the movie for too long his acting when seeing Bailey and reconnecting with Hannah were perfect for the role. Throughout the lives of Bailey he keeps asking a question along the lines of what is the point of living. And at the end of the movie the question if finally answered. Bailey learned: to have fun, if someone needs to be saved, save them, lick the ones you love(tell your loved ones that you love them), don't be sad on what happened in the past(such as the past lives he's had), be happy on what could happen in the future, and finally be here in the present. These are all a dog's purpose, but I also think that it can be good lessons to live for humans as well.
netherboy
Seriously why does movie have a 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. How could anybody watch this movie and think afterwards that is is bad. The movie uses reincarnation to make something both heartwarming and sad. Not to mention the amazing way the movie portrays the point of view of a dog. That is actually where most of the films humor comes from. Yeah, this is a drama with comedy. Overall I would say go check it out. If you ar a dog person, you will love this movie. The only thing I can say in order to avoid spoilers is that you might need some tissues.
