A Dog's Purpose

Rangan

Sep 4, 2017

9/10

**Caught in the rebirth-loop!** I might a bit overrated it, but it's well deserved that. It has been a long time since I wetted my eyes for a film. Especially for being a tearjerker fan in the early days. This looks like a sequel to 'Fluke', though it justified to be an independent film. Based on the book of the same name, directed by the one who made 'Hachi: A Dog's Tale'. A perfect family film, but entirely a fictional account. Do you remember those films about a human being trapped in the time- loop, not knowing why and takes a quest to find the purpose? Yep, this is same, but with a dog and not a time-loop, instead, the rebirths. The tale was told from a dog's perspective, his life from puppy to growing old with his owners. The lives he enjoyed, struggled, loved, and not understanding why the life circle keeps repeating. After all the things film wanted to tell us, the story ends with an explanation. Just a simple one. The dog's the hero, he's found in every frame. The rest of the characters were well designed. Especially the sub-stories to blend with the dog's. All the dogs who acted in the film were awesome. This is one of the best dog films. As I said, it is not great, but surely enjoyable by everyone. Especially in the today's CGI dominated and/or superhero flicks, this is something close to our heart, despite a fantasy tale. So, go it! 8.5/10

A Dog's Purpose asks a simple, almost greedy question: what if the dog you lost kept finding its way back to you, life after life? Bailey is born, loved, and dies, then returns as a new dog carrying the same soul and the same self-appointed job, which is to look after humans who do not always deserve him. On paper it is shameless. In practice it works, because the film commits completely to the dog's point of view and never once apologises for it. What lifts it above pure sentiment is the narration. We hear the dog trying to make sense of human behaviour: why his boy drifts away, why people leave, why a house fills with a sadness he cannot fix just by being good. Every dog owner knows that gap between what a dog understands and what it clearly feels. That gap is where this movie lives. It is not subtle and it is not trying to be. It is worth knowing there was an on-set controversy about a water scene around the time of release, which the studio addressed, and viewers can weigh that for themselves. But as a story about loyalty outliving a single lifetime, it lands hard. Watch it with tissues, and ideally with a dog within arm's reach. If you want more dog films reviewed the same way, I keep a running list here: https://dogwithblog.in/a-dogs-purpose-movie-review/