A Dog's Way Home

I can’t help but think – even though it might be due to the fact that I was a kid then and perceived such movies differently – that Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey about two dogs and a cat who had to cross the Rocky Mountains to get to their family, wasn’t as filled with American patriotism and didn’t attack the audience’s emotions as forcefully as this movie. The story is of course nice, milking your emotions in various ways, and because we live in a digital era, the creators use CGI tricks to make things easier for themselves, which we see quite often in today’s numerous family films revolving around animals. Unfortunately, it makes these movies lose a little of that soul older similar movies used to have. Anyhow, I have to admit that this movie is still nice enough to make most of the audience cry, so it fulfills its purpose. (10/07/2019)

I've only recently watched A Dog’s Purpose and really liked it. A Dog's Way Home, based on a novel by the same writer, also has charm but lacks complexity, unlike the other film. The protagonist, Bella, sees the world through her naive but all the more honest view of reality – almost as if the film was narrated by a child. I was a little distracted by the plethora of CGI effects, which I didn't think were all that necessary, and I wasn't entirely sure about the likelihood of a friendship between a dog and a cougar, but I'm no animal ethologist. The cast was mostly good, although it's a fact that the human characters in this film were more of a afterthought. Bella's pilgrimage back home lacked the perspective of Lucas and his entourage a bit. A Dog’s Way Home may not be as strong and complex as its predecessor, but it still doesn't get boring and its plot moves along. (02/10/2019)