A Dog's Purpose English Movie
It is one thing to keep reincarnating a dog in your film, it is another thing to give that dog an existential crisis. A Dog's Purpose, as the name suggests, takes its title a little too seriously. The far too contrived plot looks like it was taken straight from the trash can and made into a film. So much for five people writing the screenplay.
The tagline of A Dog's Purpose is "every dog happens for a reason". If the title and tagline do not make the film's theme obvious, the protagonist, a dog named Bailey, has a dramatic explanatory voice-over from none other than comedic actor Josh Gad, whose voice sounds like it came straight from a run-off-the-mill animation film. Some generic American drama is written into the story that is more often than not, from the perspective of Bailey, helped by the countless POV shots where you can't help noticing that the actors are simply holding the camera in their hands and performing; certainly not make-believe. There are actually four different stories in A Dog's Purpose which easily gives away the fact that the writers were running out of ideas at least on three different occasions. Their modus operandi is to simply kill off and then reincarnate the poor dog in a futile attempt at re-anchoring the narrative. Also, Gad voicing even the female reincarnation of Bailey, Ellie, is all the more preposterous, as if the makers could not afford to hire a talented female voice artist for that small portion.
The four incarnations of the hero has only one job to do- act cute in front of the camera. They come in different sizes and breeds- Red Retriever, German Shepherd, Pembroke Welsh Corgi and Saint Bernard, to be precise. They are merely used as toys to be gazed at by the audience. The average dog lover will have a delightful time watching the different dogs for a hundred minutes or so. But, the other section of film-goers will find it to be too cheesy for its own sake. Especially, the middle of the story looks so out of place, courtesy of the two short stories featuring Ellie and Tino which, in isolation look decent, but when put to merge with the main plot, make zero sense whatsoever. It is not an exaggeration when I say that the film could have done without the entire second act.
Interestingly, A Dog's Purpose extends through the years of the Cuban Missile Crisis till modern times. It cannot be denied that the film lightly touches upon the mood of American society within the chronological periods, be it through Bailey's owners- the Montgomerys, or Carlos, the Chicago cop. But, this layer of creative storytelling is left incomplete only to focus on the superfluous life span of the dog, or shall I say, its soul, that is in focus. The film is beautifully captured on camera by Terry Stacey as it skims through the countryside and devoutly tracks all the kinetic steps that the dog makes. A charming Dennis Quaid and a straight-faced John Ortiz make impressive cameos while the rest of the cast do justice to their parts. Newcomer KJ Apa effortlessly dazzles as the younger version of Quaid's Ethan, Bailey's first owner and best friend.
A Dog's Purpose is straight from the under-cooked feel-good collection of Hollywood films from the early 2000s and belongs right there. It toys with its photogenic dogs as well as the audience's patience and turns it up to eleven. If you want to just see adorable dogs on screen, you have YouTube. If you want to watch a tear-jerking tale about a dog, you have Marley and Me or Hachi: A Dog's Tale, not A Dog's Purpose, remember.
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