A Dog's Purpose

Name: A Dog's Purpose
Director: Lasse Hallström
Genre: Comedy, Adventure, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Released: 2017
Duration: 1 h 35 min
Cast: Brittany Robertson, Dennis Quaid, Josh Gad, Peggy Lipton, K J Apa

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Comedy
Adventure

2017
Lasse Hallström
95 mins
PG

Summary

Fantasy adventure starring Britt Robertson and Dennis Quaid, and featuring the voice of Josh Gad. Young Ethan is devastated when his dog and best friend Bailey dies. But Bailey knows that it's not only cats that have nine lives.

IMDB

Review

A star rating of 2 out of 5.

Terry Staunton

Imagine Look Who's Talking, but instead of a baby voiced by Bruce Willis, it's a pooch continually reincarnated as different breeds of man's best friend (and voiced by Beauty and the Beast's Josh Gad). We first meet Bailey when he's a retriever pup bonding with troubled kid Ethan, the pair becoming inseparable until the mutt passes on. But instead of heading to that big kennel in the sky, he's reborn as a female German shepherd police dog. And so it goes on, tugging at heartstrings with each passing death and subsequent return. Director Lasse Hallström cranks up the schmaltz at every opportunity, and while the parade of canines is undeniably adorable, there's little substance to the journey, the "purpose". Were it played for bigger laughs, with successive Baileys getting into all manner of scrapes, it may have made a decent comedy, rather than a baffling existential weepie that ultimately ends up chasing its own tail.

imdb-square

7.3/10

How to watch

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Streaming

NOW

Credits

Cast

rolenameTeen HannahBrittany RobertsonAdult EthanDennis QuaidBailey / Buddy / Tino / EllieJosh GadAdult HannahPeggy LiptonTeen EthanK J ApaCarlosJohn Ortiz (1)Ethan, aged 8Bryce GheisarElizabeth, Ethan's momJuliet RylanceJim, Ethan's dadLuke KirbyToddLogan Miller

Crew

rolenameDirectorLasse Hallström

Details

Theatrical distributor

Entertainment One

Released on

2017-05-05

Languages

English

Available on

DVD and Blu-ray

Formats

Colour