Movie Review #15: A Dog’s Purpose 

*DISCLAIMER, I SAW THIS MOVIE BEFORE KNOWING ABOUT THE ABUSE ALLEGATIONS. I DON’T SUPPORT ANIMAL ABUSE, BUT I WILL NOT LET ONE BAD APPLE RUIN A GREAT FILM.*

Been a while, right? Yes it has. Well the movies that are out now, honestly I don’t care for. I wanted to see this movie for a while now, but the timing was difficult, due to my work schedule. So I made time. (What did you sneak in Tareau?) Reece’s mini’s and a bottle water. I also had a dollar off on the slushy, so I used that. Ha. Anyways A Dog’s Purpose is an excellent film. I am no way a dog lover. I like dogs, but I don’t love em. I prefer cats. The film is about a dog whose original name is Bailey (voiced by Josh Gad) a red retriever who is searching for his purpose in life. After a rough start as an orphan, Bailey is adopted by a little boy named Ethan (young Ethan played by Bryce Gheisar). Ethan is a charismatic, young boy who lives in Middle America during the early 1960s. His mother is a homemaker named Elizabeth Montgomery  (Juliet Rylance) and his father is a door to door salesman who also is surly and has a drinking problem. His name is Jim Montgomery  (Luke Montgomery). Young Ethan convinces his parents to let him keep the stray dog and typical hilarity ensues. From butt jokes, to sneaking food, to getting into dog mischief. The movie is very predictable but it’s a calm and warmth predictability. The movie takes a interesting turn when Ethan (now older) and he meets his love interest at a fair named Hannah (Britt Robertson). With the help of Bailey, Ethan works up enough courage to ask Hannah. The story slows down a little bit, and you see the young stars fall in love and are inseparable. Ethan is also being scouted to play football at Michigan State and his life couldn’t be better. Unfortunately Ethan gets into a fight with his dad, who had just beat up Mrs. Montgomery and not only that, Ethan has a jealous friend who sets Ethan’s house on fire. Ethan breaks his foot escaping the fire, and his quarterback dreams are shattered. He breaks up with Hannah and decides to go to agricultural college to learn the family business. Bailey in the mean time gets old and passes away.

Don’t be too sad because Bailey is resurrected 5 times in this Film and he ultimately serves his purpose as a dog. Just to be there for his human companion. This movie had real scenarios from Domestic Violence, Spousal Abuse, Negligence, Loneliness, and Alcoholism. But it had a lot of brilliant emotions as well. Hope, laughter, bonding, community, love, and companionship. I personally give this movie a B+. It would have received and A- but my pettiness won’t allow me to do it because the bash cats throughout the film. Great movie for mature children. It is very slow but worth it.

Advertisement

29 comments

  1. Okay, I love my little cat Milo but also understand the love for puppies. I wanted to see this movie, but like your daughter, I was worried about the main character, Bailey. But I wish there were more feel good films out there to watch with family. Especially ones with real world problems.

    Liked by 1 person

    • There are great family films, unfortunately they don’t get promotion like they should. I really loved this movies perspective on things because even though there were bad things happening, it explained it with subtly for the younger viewers

      Like

  2. If I watch this through my Firestick, is that still considered boycotting? :/
    I didn’t know you were a cat lover!!! I have 2 – would you like to babysit sometime? Maybe for a few months to a year? 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hahahahah, I dunno about the firestick. Yes I love cats because they make you work for their affection. And they are super petty. Like they waltz into a room purring and meowing, sashaying their tail, and gives everyone a “general hi” hahahahahahah. I remember that cat in your video review about Kelly’s cookies, and that cat was not feeling it.

      Liked by 1 person

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s