A Dog's Journey

Positive—I am giving this film a positive rating, but have very mixed feelings about it. It lacks the cleanness of the first movie, “A Dog’s Purpose,” and does contain content that some viewers may feel is inappropriate. I note that it is directed by a different person. This isn’t a movie for younger children, in my opinion, because of the mature content, violence, and sadness contained in the story.

The storyline that threads throughout the movie is well written and interesting, and it’s a nice love story about the meaning of true love between two people, with a positive message about forgiveness. It is rather sad, I mean the dogs (or is that dog?) die a few times, sometimes in tragic circumstances, and the family life is very dysfunctional. It seems realistic in its attempts to show how some families struggle with the presence of depression combined with alcohol use, and how girls in this type of environment often gravitate to abusive fellows in their quest for love and acceptance.

I struggled with the vulgarity in the film which consists of bathroom humour which unfortunately moves toward sexual references in terms of male anatomy. There are also a few subtle and blatant references to indicate that couples are living together without being married. I heard God’s name used in vain once, but no other swearing. Also, the girl manipulates her mother to get her a dog by telling her that she’ll tell her teacher about the neglect she experiences. Her mother is an alcoholic and very unstable. I mean CJ smuggles a dog into the home, and her mother doesn’t even notice, and she is frequently left home alone all night when she is only 11 years old.

The acting is very good and it sure shows the positive role dogs play in our lives, even though it promotes the idea of re-incarnation in animals. However, there’s no indication that humans come back in other lives.

Do animals really go to Heaven? I guess we’ll never know for sure until we get there, but somehow there is some contradiction on this topic in the film. I’m recommending it with a cautionary note.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: 3½

Negative—I personally did not enjoy when a green monster who referred to himself as “Shrek” (which is not a name of God) came and stole the dog from it’s owner. Stealing is a sin. When watching with a younger group of kids, I was worried that they would take after this character and start stealing the neighborhood dogs. We simply don’t have the amount of time to take care of all those dogs. It would give me such a headache. Plus, the next door lady’s dog yaps a lot and I would end up letting it run away. Lets see if he can find his way back like the dog in the movie.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: ½

…gloopy, goofy… Buddhism-for-beginners premise… spiritual ferry through repeated rounds of Rover reincarnation…

…Doggedly effective… ruthlessly efficient when it comes to jerking tears… serve[s] up a sugar-coated, bastardized form of Buddhism for pet lovers…

…tear-jerker aimed squarely at tween- and teenage girls… fluffy, sappy… never looks any better than a TV movie…

…all about a multiple-incarnation pooch… I suppose it’s a genuine achievement that a movie packed with as much delightful canine (and agreeable human) talent as this one should be so insufferable. …

…cheap emotional manipulation… ‘A Dog’s Journey’ will make you cry, but it does not earn those tears… [1/4]

…unashamed agglomeration of poop jokes and puppy eyes… this movie is almost literally all puppy eyes. [2/4]

…“A Dog’s Journey” is still prepared to get extraordinarily dark… still the same weird mix of tearjerking dog death, soapy drama, and kid-friendly comedy. The end result is like watching a season finale of “This Is Us” with a commentary track by Elmo… [2½/5]

…a sky-high saccharine quotient… A big, juicy bone for canine-focused humans, but much less of a treat for others. …