As a film that would otherwise evoke little reaction online, A Dog’s Way Home arrives in cinemas in wake of a strangely controversial trailer. Despite Sony’s generous spending on promotion, it seemed to break the golden rule of movie trailers: making the audience feel like they’d watched the entire film already. Many on social media enjoyed poking fun at this, and Entertainment Weekly even ran a mock ‘investigation’ piece, yet there is a lingering sense that this might have gone in Sony’s favour for a film which would not usually garner this kind of reaction. To those interested in watching the film however, I’d advise staying away from the trailer, as it does reveal key information as to whether or not the dog does in fact find her way home.

Every dog has its day, and it seems like that day is today for the protagonists of W. Bruce Cameron’s canine-centric novels. If you happen to miss A Dog’s Way Home, A Dog’s Journey, the sequel to A Dog’s Purpose, has already begun its promotion cycle and will be released later this year. This recent attention given to Cameron’s novels onscreen could perhaps be attributed to the 2008 film Marley & Me, which could be argued to be both the genesis and the high-point of the cutesy-dog movie genre. It seems fitting that the director of A Dog’s Way Home is Charles Martin Smith, who also brought to life the true-story Dolphin Tale series, boasting Morgan Freeman in a starring role.

A Dog’s Way Home then, delivers on most of the expectations of the genre, and is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. We see Bella, a pit-bull, being raised amongst cats in an abandoned building, before being adopted by Lucas (played by Jonah-Hauer King). Bella bonds with Lucas and seems to radiate a wholesome joy to all the humans she surrounds, however through several plot contrivances she becomes lost, and must (yes, you got it) find her way home.

The schmaltzy stuff then, gives the audience everything they’ve come to expect, with some very light-hearted and sugary montage sequences showing Bella’s development. She plays in the snow with Lucas, toys with his shoes, is given her favourite snack: a tiny piece of cheese, which is somehow substantial. Bella’s internal monologue is voiced by Bryce Dallas-Howard, who delivers a very twee yet entirely appropriate performance that fits with Bella’s childlike, misconstrued understanding of the world. However, some may find her voice-over annoying, particularly as it is very much overused and so naïve it may start to sound sarcastic. All this is set to a soundtrack filled with tracks that would be more than eligible for an Acoustic Pop Spotify playlist. The plot and dialogue are quite simplistic, and this seems mostly to appeal to a younger audience, with an episodic structure following many of Bella’s encounters and adventures on her way home.

The film seems to fall flat however, when it consults its adult audience. Many recent child-friendly films seem to make thorough use of innuendo and euphemism to send a wink to the parents in the theatre, for better and for worse. However, A Dog’s Way Home clumsily attempts to tackle issues of mental health and racism, both acknowledging the cultural climate that older viewers will be aware of and attempting to explain some of these concepts to children. One of the film’s missteps seems to reduce dog therapy to making a veteran with PTSD’s ‘sadness go away,’ and in response to one of the flimsier plot points, that pit-bulls are outlawed in the city of Denver, one character remarks how it’s just like ‘racism for dogs.’ These are offhand remarks that many viewers may not care about or notice, yet it’s quite astonishing to see how these moments are treated with so little grace or nuance. The film also veers into patriotic flag-waving towards the end, with a ‘respect the troops’ message which isn’t necessarily negative, but still would not be more out of place if it materialised in a Pixar movie.

Verdict:

A Dog’s Way Home will most likely please its core audience, and what you expect is most definitely what you will get with this one: a cutesy canine adventure. Parents and other acquaintances being drawn into the cinema for this one will probably find very little of interest, and with the film’s very simplistic outlook on the world and contemporary issues, many will find it lacking in areas of both bark and bite.

Rating:

4/10