A DOG’S PURPOSE (2017)

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Lasse Hallstrom

SCREENWRITER: W. Bruce Cameron, Cathryn Michon, Audrey Wells, Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky

FILM STARS: Josh Gad (the voice of the dog), Dennis Quaid, Peggy Lipton, Bryce Gheisar, KJ Apa, Juliet Rylance, Luke Kirby

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: W. Bruce Cameron

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Pan

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 2018

COUNTRY: Australia

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 2010

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Comedy, Drama

WORDS: This is the type of movie Hollywood does well … slick and emotional. It is designed to make you cry. People with problems, dogs, the passing of time, love and loss. Bring a hanky

The book is well written, but manipulative. The film is well directed and played, but manipulative. As long as you don’t mind being manipulated both are better than most. And I don’t.

Books can cram in ideas with the emotion but (non documentary) films do not have that luxury. Film is limited by time and the need to keep the audience entertained. It is largely passive and it’s easier to make people emote than think. They may stick to the story but the emphasis is usually on the narrative and the emotions that arise out of the story or ideas and concepts. You can have both and the best films (for me) are the genre type films which have ideas snuck into them … though to get the balance right isn’t easy.

So, just go along for the ride and be entertained. Manipulation it may be but films that are meant to make you think are no less manipulative, usually more agenda driven and harder to make entertaining.

Here, the book and the film tell the story of a dog its eyes as it is reincarnated multiple times over five decades. The dog discovers its “purpose” through its journey and through its kindred spirit, Ethan, a boy who grows into an older man over the decades. Lives are touched, stories are told, there is laughter and there are tears, and everything is uplifting. This is story telling and something that reaches back to thirties like a more obvious and less skilled William Saroyan.

The film is well made. Swede director Lasse Hallström (who started out in the mid-70s directing ABBA videos) is good at making literate, thoughtful (and perhaps ripe) schmaltz (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), The Cider House Rules (1999), and Chocolat (2000), The Shipping News (2001), An Unfinished Life (2005), Dear John (2010)). Interestingly, his earlier dog movie, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (2009) is similar in tone to A Dog’s Purpose (very similar – it makes you wonder if author W. Bruce Cameron had seen that film, or its Japanese original, Hachikō Monogatari (1987)). His even earlier My Life as a Dog (1985) which made his name is not about a dog at all.

The cast are good (especially Quaid) but ultimately, despite the more thoughtful story line, any Lassie movie from the 1940s is as entertaining, and some more so. This is not a criticism, I’m just saying.

The script by Cameron and four others (three females and a male) waters down the book a little and, as per usual, the movie adaptation simplifies and alters some aspects of the book’s narrative to keep the pace up. Stories are condensed, some key events are changed, and not surprisingly, the movie emphasizes the dog’s relationships with his humans, sometimes at the expense of his / her (the reincarnated dog comes back as both genders) own internal journey. The film sticks to the novel with love, loyalty, and the bond between humans and animals foremost (a Hollywood staple going back to the silent era) though the book is a little more melancholy, especially towards the end.

The novel was a New York Times bestseller for 49 weeks (some sources say 52)  and was followed up by two sequels by Cameron, A Dog’s Journey (2012) (filmed in 2019) and A Dog’s Promise (2019). The film was a big hit with a budget of $22 million it returned $205 million at the box office.

The film is easily watchable though once may be enough and the book is easily readable. It’s a matter for you if you embark on either, but definitely watch the film or read the book on a beach if you want someone female to think you are sensitive.

LINKS

TRAILER