No. I can’t believe I gave this film a passing grade, either. It’s not like I want to see it again. I panned A Dog’s Purpose back in 2017 and would happily pan it again if forced to watch. The sequel: A Dog’s Journey, is every bit its brother – the film is emotionally manipulative, overdramatic, and poorly acted. Like an immature child at a wake, it punctuates every solemn moment with something completely inappropriate (ex. Doctor: “You have cancer.” Dog: “Do I smell cheese?”) And for a set of films clearly aimed at appealing to traditional American family values folk, Purpose & Journey are all about the mysterious concept of reincarnation, a thought which has no root in the Bible Belt.
Ah, but this is where focus makes such a difference to a movie. Whereas A Dog’s Purpose was entirely about the dog, which made it confusing, scattershot, and shallow, A Dog’s Journey is about people. The dog’s presence is for support not focus … as it should be if the dog keeps dying and returning in another form. Do you see how that works? It’s like if you made Lord of the Rings entirely about the one ring instead of the creatures collecting, transporting, and vying for the one ring. That’s a different movie. Add in the idea of the one ring only seeing itself as a piece of jewelry and that’s pretty much how I felt about the difference between what A Dog’s Purpose meant to me and what it meant to the people who made the thing.
Josh Gad once again voices Bailey, the shallow dog of infinite lives and loyalty. And while the story follows Bailey more than it doesn’t, it is really about the very human CJ (Abby Ryder Fortson as a pup, Kathryn Prescott as a –don’t make me say it–). A Dog’s Journey begins in the country home of Ethan (Dennis Quaid). Last film, he captured the girl (Marg Helgenberger), but now he’s lost a son. These two live with their de-facto daughter-in-law, Gloria (Betty Gilpin), and her daughter, CJ. Gloria, a would-be songstress-turned-barfly, is an unfit mother, and when Ethan and Hannah (Helgenberger) call her on it, Gloria shouts something to the effect of “you’re not my parents,” then takes her ball and leaves.
Then the dog dies. Don’t worry, the dog never really dies; it just comes back as another dog in another place and time with with same consciousness … and now I’m questioning if every dog I ever owned really belonged to me or was specifically intended to support another person.
I want you to see this from the perspective of Ethan and Hannah, because the movie sure didn’t: In a three year span, they lost their son, their (effective) daughter-in-law, their only grandchild, and their dog. Daughter-in-law and grandchild still live, of course, but from the perspective of the geezers, they’re pretty much gone forever. Somebody is going to have to explain to me where the sympathy in this film is supposed to lie. Before the dog died, however, Ethan put it upon Bailey to take care of li’l CJ because Gloria sure as Hell ain’t gonna.
And this becomes A Dog’s Purpose (oops, wrong film) – take care of the little girl whose only remaining parent is a trainwreck. When Journey focuses on the dog, the film is middling; in each iteration of life, all the dog really cares about is bacon and backrubs. However, when Journey focuses on CJ’s survival and well-being, suddenly the dog has an important role, and we the audience can appreciate all forms of Bailey as the ultimate guide dog of sorts; he’s not there to be CJ’s eyes and ears, he’s there to be her guardian angel. I find this perspective worth the tale even when poorly told.
Look, there are a metric ton of reasons to dislike this film … and if you average this and its predecessor, you get one bad chew toy of tear-inducing melodrama. And at the end of the day, that is precisely what I’m going to think of these films and their inevitable sequels. For now, however, I’m looking the other way while A Dog’s Journey sneaks its way into the “acceptable” pile. But I can almost guarantee the next one is going to be A Dog’s Breakfast.
My dog is more than fur, fleas, and joy
He travels through time to deploy
Goodness to my doors
An angel on all fours
Not much else to say but “good boy”
Rated PG, 108 Minutes
Director: Gail Mancuso
Writer: W. Bruce Cameron, Maya Forbes, Cathryn Michon, Wallace Wolodarsky
Genre: Love your dog
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Dog lovers
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who don’t like being manipulated
