{"id":9940,"date":"2024-12-11T17:25:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T22:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=9940"},"modified":"2024-12-11T17:25:21","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T22:25:21","slug":"a-dogs-way-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/12\/11\/a-dogs-way-home\/","title":{"rendered":"A Dog\u2019s Way Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A Dog\u2019s Way Home <\/strong>(2019)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Drama-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 96 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (thematic elements, some peril, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Charles Martin Smith\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: W. Bruce Cameron and Cathryn Michon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Mychael Danna\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Peter Menzies Jr.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 11, 2019 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard (voice), Ashley Judd, Jonah Hauer-King, Alexandra Shipp, Wes Studi, John Cassini, Brian Markinson, Edward James Olmos, Lucia Walters, Barry Watson, Broadus Mattison, Chris Bauer, Farrah Aviva, Tammy Gillis, Benjamin Ratner, Patrick Gallagher.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $42M (US)\/$80.7M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0How many times have I pleaded for a return to old school movie making in my reviews? Too many to count I expect. Well, it looks like somebody heard me. Aside from some obvious CGI, A Dog\u2019s Way Home<\/strong> is the kind of cute animal movie Disney used to make. Specifically, I\u2019m thinking of 1963\u2019s The Incredible Journey (remade in 1993 as Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey) in which two dogs and a cat trek 250 miles through the Canadian wilderness to reunite with their humans. In this day and age of superheroes and computer-animation, you just don\u2019t see movies like this anymore. Not unless you count 2012\u2019s Darling Companion which I don\u2019t. An older couple looking for their lost dog (\u201cFREEWAY!!\u201d) doesn\u2019t have the same effect as the traditional boy and his dog story arc. Although the human protagonist in A Dog\u2019s Way Home<\/strong> is technically a young man, the movie doesn\u2019t really focus on him as much as it does his canine pal.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As a lifelong dog lover, I am naturally inclined to think the puppy in A Dog\u2019s Way Home<\/strong> is cute. I can\u2019t imagine anybody thinking otherwise. Her name is Bella and she\u2019s voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard of the Jurassic World movies. She was born under an abandoned house where she frolicked with her siblings and a litter of kittens until animal control officers show up. She watches helplessly as her mother and siblings are dragged away. Thankfully, \u201cMother Cat\u201d takes care of her until the day she meets Lucas (King, TV\u2019s Little Women), a kindly med school student who comes with his girlfriend Olivia (Shipp, the recent X-Men movies) to feed the cats. It\u2019s love at first sight for Bella and Lucas. He takes her home in hopes that it will help his war vet mother Terri (Judd, Dolphin Tale 1 & 2) with her depression.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For a while, everybody is happy. Bella enjoys playing games like fetch and \u201cdon\u2019t chew shoes\u201d. She delights in simple pleasures like a \u201ctiny piece of cheese\u201d. One day, she goes to the VA with Lucas and Terri where she becomes an instant hit with the patients suffering from PTSD. The trouble begins when vindictive real estate developer Gunter (Markinson, Shooter) calls animal control after Lucas and Olivia have his permit rescinded because the cats are still living on the property he\u2019s trying to develop. Apparently, pit bulls (which Bella has been labeled) are illegal in Denver. The dog catcher (Cassini, Continuum) threatens to impound Bella which he eventually does. A heartbroken Lucas has no choice but to send her away until he and his mother find another place to live (in a town without a pit bull ordinance). Bella can\u2019t stand to be separated from her beloved human so she escapes from her temporary home in New Mexico to make her way back home to her family.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So begins a perilous 400-mile, two-and-a-half year journey through the Colorado wilderness during which Bella helps raise a bobcat orphaned by hunters. She has an encounter with a troubled homeless vet (Olmos, Stand and Deliver) and briefly stays with a gay couple after rescuing a skier buried under an avalanche.<\/p>\n

\u00a0At this point, I could reveal whether or not Bella reunites with Lucas and it wouldn\u2019t make a difference since the trailer, which has been running for months, gives away the ending. Sadly, A Dog\u2019s Way Home<\/strong> is a victim of TMI Syndrome. Given the movie\u2019s old-fashioned nature, couldn\u2019t they have approached the trailer the same way? I mean, how difficult is it to cut a trailer that doesn\u2019t tell you the entire story? To its credit, it said nothing about the developer or dog catcher. Even so, given that we\u2019re talking about a PG-rated movie aimed at kids and families, the boy and dog reunion is a foregone conclusion. The business with the dog catcher is another matter. Obviously, he\u2019s going to show up and try to spoil the happy occasion. How will Lucas finally beat this officious creep and make him go away for good? That, my friends, I will keep to myself.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The wave of nostalgia I felt watching A Dog\u2019s Way Home<\/strong> was occasionally derailed by the obvious CGI in scenes with the grown bobcat and a fight with a pack of wolves. I was telling my wife that back in the day they used to train animals to simulate fights and such. Along with some trick photography, it looked very real to us kids. The CGI is something of a disconnect, but it\u2019s only a minor glitch in an otherwise perfectly functional family adventure.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I like that director Charles Martin Smith (Air Bud, Dolphin Tale 1 & 2) allows us to hear Bella\u2019s thoughts. What dog owner hasn\u2019t imagined what their furry friend is thinking or might say in any given situation? He doesn\u2019t make Bella seem too human or overly intelligent. Bella is a fun-loving creature who lives for chicken, cheese and her \u201cLucas blanket\u201d. She\u2019s a happy, friendly and selfless animal who thinks of everything as a game yet understands when something isn\u2019t right. She\u2019s also tenacious. No matter what happens, she never gives up hope of finding Lucas. Some cynical types will invariably dismiss the idea of a dog traveling such a long distance as implausible. To them I say, lighten up. Besides, I have heard of such cases.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I also like that A Dog\u2019s Way Home<\/strong> isn\u2019t afraid to touch on serious issues like PTSD, same-sex marriage and dog racism even though it doesn\u2019t explore any of them in depth. That\u2019s actually a good thing. By not making a big deal of the gay couple\u2019s relationship, it acknowledges that it\u2019s as normal as a heterosexual one. The movie attempts to explain the unfair broad application of the term \u201cpit bull\u201d. It\u2019s basically the same thing as calling a canine a \u201chound dog\u201d. When told about the city\u2019s anti-pit bull law, Olivia exclaims that it\u2019s \u201cbasically racism for dogs\u201d. People fear this breed because of all the stories they\u2019ve heard about dog fighting rings and attacks on toddlers and small dogs. Looking at Bella (who I\u2019m not even sure is actually a pit bull), I\u2019m inclined to believe not all pit bulls are bad.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Casting aside weighty matters, A Dog\u2019s Way Home<\/strong> is delightful, heart-warming family entertainment. There are scenes that might upset younger or more sensitive viewers. A scene on a freeway is pretty tense. Thankfully, they\u2019re balanced out nicely by some humorous moments like when Bella innocently causes chaos in a supermarket. It\u2019s a nice little movie that\u2019s sure to please dog owners. You\u2019ll definitely want to hug your dog(s) when you get home. Be sure to bring tissue as you\u2019re likely to shed a tear or two.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Dog\u2019s Way Home (2019)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbia\/Drama-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 96 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (thematic elements, some peril, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Charles Martin Smith\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: W. Bruce Cameron and Cathryn Michon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Mychael Danna\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Peter Menzies Jr.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 11, 2019 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard (voice), Ashley Judd, Jonah Hauer-King, Alexandra Shipp, Wes Studi, John Cassini, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/A-Dogs-Way-Home-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9940"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10303,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9940\/revisions\/10303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}