It’s a testament to the film’s creators that it wins you over despite two things that are usually deal breakers. Being overly sentimental or telling the story almost exclusively via voice overs usually leads to a very poor end result. The film works because it keeps the stories small, believable and relatable and really who doesn’t like puppies.
A Dog’s Purpose is built on the premise that dogs live life over and over via reincarnation but keep the memories of past lives in their consciousness. We follow one doggie soul through multiple lives and all of them are examinations of various forms of the human condition.
Unafraid to lay down something other than just cute doggie shenanigans, some of the lives our main dog soul lives are quite sad. It’s comments on unworthy parents, unwanted pets or human loneliness give the film a surprising degree of depth.
Warning though, movie tickets should come with a Clarityn tablet as the audience must have had some allergies flair up because there was a lot of sniffling throughout the film.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/A-Dogs-Purpose
