A Dog's Purpose Film Review

A Dog’s Purpose Film Review

 

First, I’d like to clarify for those who do not support the film due to a TMZ report that previously came out regarding potential animal abuse on the set of filming that the video TMZ leaked of the alleged incident was proclaimed as misleading and falsified by the American Humane Association. The American Humane Association conducted an investigation following the video leak and determined that the TMZ video of the alleged dog abuse had been deliberately edited to mislead and deceive the public shortly prior to the film’s theatrical release. Upon their investigation, the American Humane Association also confirmed that proper safety procedures had been taken during filming of the movie to ensure no animal cruelty took place. 

The film, which stars Dennis Quaid, Britt Robertson and Gabrielle Rose, begins with a small puppy questioning the meaning of life. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get his questions answered before he is taken to the pound and euthanized. He is reborn as a Golden Retriever at a puppy mill, still wondering what the purpose of life is, besides having fun.

Unable to be adopted, he escapes the puppy mill only to be caught by two men intent on selling him for their personal profit. The two men end up leaving him in a hot car where the puppy begins to get overheated and dehydrated. He nearly dies of a heat stroke before a young boy named Ethan and his mother rescue him. When the puppy wakes up after passing out from overheating, he immediately sees Ethan. Now considering Ethan as his purpose in life, the puppy, eventually named Bailey, begins bonding with Ethan.

As the years pass, we see Bailey staying loyal to Ethan through everything, from Ethan falling in love with a girl named Hannah to saving Ethan and his mother from a house fire initiated by a school bully. Eventually, Ethan heads off to an agricultural school but quickly returns to say goodbye to Bailey before he passes away at the veterinarian’s office. Bailey is then reborn into a female German Shepherd named Ellie and becomes a part of a K-9 unit, still remembering every previous life as a dog. Ellie is partnered up with a police officer named Carlos, now seeing the job as life’s purpose. Unfortunately, during a hostage situation, Ellie ends up losing her life, protecting Carlos from an armed kidnapper.

Reincarnated into a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Bailey is now named Tino and owned by a college student named Maya. Realizing Maya is lonely, Tino determines his purpose to be to bring her happiness. Eventually, Maya falls in love with another classmate named Al, who also has a dog named Roxie, who Tino falls in love with. One day, Roxie is taken to the veterinarian’s office where she passes away, leaving Tino heartbroken when he realizes she isn’t coming back home. Tino eventually passes away of old age.

Brought back to life once more, now as an Saint Bernard- Australian Shepherd mix, Bailey is taken in by a couple. The woman who cares for him names him Waffles. Her boyfriend, however, is not too keen on the idea of having a dog and refuses to let the dog live inside the home. Eventually, the woman’s boyfriend makes her give up the dog. She tells her boyfriend to find the dog a good home but the boyfriend abandons the dog in a parking lot.

Waffles eventually comes across a dog park, realizing it’s been so long since he has played. He comes across another dog and their owner there who carries a familiar scent to him but does not seem to know them. Eventually, Waffles makes it to the countryside where he reunites with his old owner, Ethan, who ends up taking him in and naming him Buddy. Noticing Ethan is slightly depressed, he seeks out that familiar scent from the dog park, which leads him to Ethan’s ex-girlfriend, Hannah.

Having reunited Ethan and Hanna, Buddy tries to get Ethan to realize that he is his former childhood pet, Bailey. After performing some old tricks and responding to a nickname that Ethan gave Bailey many decades ago, Ethan realizes Buddy is a reincarnated Bailey. The film ends with Bailey confirming that a dog’s purpose is many things including having fun, saving others, loving the people in their life, not living with regrets, not fearing the future and living life to the fullest day by day.

If you choose to watch this film, you might want to have a box of tissues on standby. This movie definitely can be a tearjerker, particularly if you love dogs. Everyone I know who saw this film cried at least once. I myself cried when the trailer for the film was first released along with two additional times when I finally watched the film.

In my opinion, if a film can get me to laugh, I consider it a good film. If a film can get me to cry which is a rare thing to happen with me when it comes to movies, I consider it a great film. This movie succeeded in making me both laugh and cry and is now most definitely added to my very long list of favorite films.