Yet a The direct sequel to the New York Times and USA Today bestselling A Dog's Purpose by W. After searching for his purpose through several eventful lives, Buddy is sure that he has found and fulfilled it. Bruce Cameron, which is now a major motion picture from Amblin Entertainment in association with Walden Media and distributed by Universal Pictures! Buddy is a good dog. Not even the usually dependable Quaid can rise above this maudlin junk.The direct sequel to the New York Times and USA Today bestselling A Dog's Purpose by W. How do we know she's a bad mom? Because she's either always on the phone or chugging white wine, that's how. Poor Betty Gilpin, so wonderful on GLOW, is stuck playing a generic mom from hell.
Everyone here is doing their best, I suppose – but they have nothing to work with. CJ's storylines fail to connect – we simply don't care about her, even though Kathryn Prescott – who plays CJ in her final form – does her best. It doesn't help that all the human drama isn't very interesting. But the act of watching one dog after another meet its demise begins to wear on you, to the point where you're not sure how much more dog death you can take. At the very least, it's a clever way to jump through time in order to further the story. Each time he returns, CJ is a little older.Īs far as set-ups go, this isn't a terrible idea. This sets up a repetitive chain of events: Bailey's new dog body eventually dies, and then Bailey comes back again to find CJ. Sure enough, Bailey quickly finds a slightly older CJ, and ends up going home with her. Which means Bailey is quickly whisked out of dog heaven and into a new body, that of a female dog named Molly (Gad still does the voice over for this dog, and gets to immediately make a joke about how he notices this new body doesn't have a penis). Bailey can't enjoy the afterlife as long as he has a mission (or a purpose, if you will), and that mission is to find and protect CJ. You see, Ethan is aware that Bailey can come back from the dead over and over again, and he just knows that the dog will end up in a new body and protect his granddaughter.Įthan's request is like a binding contract. Not only does Bailey have to die again and again, but he also remembers each death.īefore Bailey slips off to doggy heaven, which is presented as the type of big, sprawling wheat field that would make Terrence Malick salivate like a dog catching a whiff of bacon, Ethan rather selfishly asks the dying Bailey dog a favor: look after CJ. "A tiny sting.And then my pain melted away." The implications are nightmarish. "I remember this from before.," Bailey narrates while being killed.
#A dogs journey full#
We're not even a full half-hour in yet, and a dog is already getting put to sleep on screen. It turns out the dog has cancer, and has to be put down in a scene that made me immediately want to leave the theater. As if that weren't bad enough, Ethan almost immediately notices a lump in poor Bailey. After a particularly pointless argument, Gloria whisks CJ away, which upsets Ethan and Hannah. The grandparents dote on CJ, but are constantly butting heads with Gloria. These early moments are cheerful enough, but don't get used to them – misery awaits. Gloria ( Betty Gilpin), daughter-in-law to Ethan's wife Hannah ( Marg Helgenberger), is living on the farm as well, along with her daughter, Ethan and Hannah's granddaughter, toddler CJ. Ethan is a real salt of the earth guy, seemingly always wearing work gloves or trucker caps, or always leaning against picket fences or tractors. At the start of A Dog's Purpose, Bailey is living the good life on Ethan's farm.