I saw this because even though I don't have a dog now I have had them in the past and sometimes consider getting one every now and then.
Dog movies are pretty good, but they are all kind of pulling at your heartstrings and bank on enough dog owners being willing to watch it. With rare exceptions, these movies don't really end up going very far but most manage to at least break even.
With A Dog's Purpose they really hit paydirt because the movie was just over $20 million to produce, which is a huge budget for a film of this sort, but managed to pull in over $200 million with the global box office.
The story follows the "soul" of one particular dog, who lives in multiple dog bodies many times over. The story is pretty sad some of the times because not all of the lives this dog lives are good ones. In that regard I like that some of the nastier sides of the dog-owning industry are exposed even if nobody is really going to do anything about it.
Eventually this dog ends up in his/her many lives existing as "Bailey" and has a young boy owner/master and this leaves an imprint on Bailey that carries on to many other lives as well.
Since dogs don't ever live as long as people, there are some quite tragic moments in here that are probably, at least briefly, make people that have ever had to put a dog down drudge up some uncomfortable or really sad memories of doing the same thing. But then the film gives us all hope that the soul of that dog remains in the universe as their beloved pet is reborn but in a different dog body.
There's nothing preachy in here. It's not a religious thing. IT is just there to give people hope and to feel better about needing to let their dog friend go eventually. I liked it.
The story of the dog we eventually get to know as "Bailey" is a good one... a fantastic and rather sad but endearing journey that takes place over a hundred years or so and we are left at the end knowing that Bailey is the one that will go on, even though Bailey barely remembers anything about his/her previous lives when she/he is reborn. I mention both sexes because the soul apparently is sexless and Bailey is sometimes born as a male, sometimes as a female. It's not a very important part of the story.
It has a really good message that shouldn't just be for dogs, but for a lot of people as well
" life is about having fun, saving others, finding someone to be with, not getting upset over the past or the future, and living for today."
Some film-makers and critics say that narration is the laziest form of story-telling in films but honestly, since this takes place mostly through the perspective of a dog, how else are they supposed to do it? I liked it
Should I watch it?
This is a fantastic movie if you have an affinity towards dogs. I think most people do. It is endearing and kind of tragic at times. It has a lot of things about films that I don't think can very easily be represented in the eyes of a human and dogs are the perfect vessel for this sort of thing.
Unless you hate dogs - in which case we wouldn't get along at all - I think this movie is going to appeal to almost everyone.
This is not often the case but this film is available on Netflix and Amazon with a subscription. It can be rented for a few bucks on almost all other streaming services as well
