‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Review: Mushy barks, shallow bites

Imagine this: you are faced with a box labeled “cookies.” You love cookies, so instinctively, you open it up. You expected the seductive scent of freshly baked goodness coming out of the box, but weirdly, there’s none. You soldier on. The box says “cookies,” but where are they? When the box is finally opened, all you see is a sad little rock.

That’s exactly the kind of disappointment one gets out of watching Lasse Hallstrom’s A Dog’s Purpose. Its title promises some deep wisdom about those beloved domesticated canines. Its ending however is just a whole lot jibberish.

Misleading label

It is not just the misleading label that makes the film truly frustrating. It is its brash pointlessness and utter lack of imagination. Am I being too cruel about the film? Perhaps.

But what is worse is Hallstrom, who has quickly descended from being the director of My Life as a Dog (1985), a heartfelt little coming-of-age movie, into a hack who has been boxed into making dull tearjerkers with pets, has the gall to consider footage of various dogs being adorable as cinematic. A lot of the scenes from A Dog’s Purpose belong on YouTube, to be seen for absolutely free and shared with friends. 

The film shrewdly monetizes this irrational obsession over furry creatures to house the flagrant sentiment modern society has for dogs. What is particularly offensive about the film is its laziness. It relies too heavily on the goodwill of dogs, on the fact that humanity owes the animals some sort of reverence for being loyal through centuries of civilization. 

Lackluster drama

The film is palpably mawkish, knowing fully well that only the hardest of hearts will not fall for a story of a dog who has to suffer through a couple of lifetimes just to be reunited with a beloved owner. That human drama that frames all the dog scenes is lackluster.

Essentially, A Dog’s Purpose centers on Bailey (voiced by Josh Gad), a retriever who was rescued by a boy and his mom from dehydration. The boy and his retriever grow up to become great buddies until they are separated by the fact that human beings outlive dogs. Bailey gets reincarnated every time he dies, which seems to be a great premise for a film that attempts to touch on existential questions of such creatures.

Sadly, the film has less lofty goals. It is content with drab mush and erstwhile humor.

It never raises the right questions. Its stubborn trajectory towards an underwhelming conclusion betrays the slight innovation of its bizarre story of reincarnating puppies. It begs for tears, pushes for sentiment, but it couldn’t even communicate the emotions it wants to communicate by virtue of its questionable sincerity. 

Particular market

Sure, A Dog’s Purpose has its paws on a particular market. In that sense, it does its purpose, even though in the process of its doing, it also advocated vulgar commercialism and celebrated the overt lack of creativity. – Rappler.com

Francis Joseph Cruz litigates for a living and writes about cinema for fun. The first Filipino movie he saw in the theaters was Carlo J. Caparas’ ‘Tirad Pass.’ Since then, he’s been on a mission to find better memories with Philippine cinema.