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A Dog's Purpose (film)

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A Dog's Purpose
Theatrical release poster
Directed byLasse Hallström
Screenplay by
Produced byGavin Polone
Starring
CinematographyTerry Stacey
Edited byRobert Leighton
Music byRachel Portman[1]
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • January 27, 2017 (2017-01-27)
Running time
120 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$22 million[2][3]
Box office$175.1 million[2]

A Dog's Purpose is a 2017 American comedy-drama film directed by Lasse Hallström and written by W. Bruce Cameron, Cathryn Michon, Audrey Wells, Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky, based on the 2010 novel of the same name by Cameron. The film stars Britt Robertson, KJ Apa, Juliet Rylance, John Ortiz, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Peggy Lipton, Dennis Quaid and Josh Gad.

The film was subjected to scrutiny after a video from the set was leaked of a dog being forced into running water, then submerged and requiring human rescue. Resulting investigations concluded that the video images were authentic, but had been edited.[4][5] The film is co-production between Amblin Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment, Walden Media, and Pariah Entertainment Group.[6][7] It was released by Universal Pictures on January 27, 2017 and grossed $175 million worldwide.

Plot

Bailey is a Golden Retriever whose life is shown from his birth to his death and to his reincarnation through four different dog breeds. Each time he is reincarnated, it tells his story from life to death, except in the latest life, where he meets his original owner again.

The movie begins in an unspecified year during the 1950s. It is then that the narrator canine begins and ends a very brief life as a wild puppy who is whisked away to the dog pound and quickly put to death. The beginning of his next life is very clearly tied in to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. As a growing young doggie, Bailey is spotted inside a locked pick-up truck on a hot summer day and is rescued from certain death by a young boy named Ethan and his mother. As the years pass, Ethan grows into a strapping high school football player who falls in love with his classmate Hannah. But events take a dark turn when Ethan's alcoholic father shoves his mother to the ground in a drunken rage. Ethan orders his father to leave and never come back. A vindictive classmate later throws a lit firecracker into Ethan's house as a harmless prank which unintentionally results in a catastrophic fire. This would surely have resulted in the deaths of a sound-asleep Ethan and his mother were it not for Bailey's quick action in rousing them from their beds. Ethan badly fractures his leg, however, during the fall from the second-story window, ending his dreams of an athletic scholarship, and he must go to agricultural school instead. Self-pitying and embittered, he breaks off his relationship with Hannah before leaving for college. Sometime afterwards, an aged Bailey slowly expires at the veterinarian's office after sharing an eleventh-hour teary goodbye with Ethan.

Bailey reincarnates into another dog life, a female German Shepherd K-9 named Ellie, while remembering his previous existence. Ellie is working with an officer, Carlos, from the Chicago Police Department, sometime in the early 1980s. The two form a close relationship which ends after Ellie jumps into a rushing river and saves a kidnapped girl from drowning because he is then shot and mortally wounded during a struggle with the armed kidnapper who was a moment away from killing an unsuspecting Carlos.

Reincarnated in the mid-1980s as a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Tino, he forms a bond with Maya, a college student in Atlanta whom he helps to find true love. Maya marries and has a beautiful family who all love the Corgi. As he lies dying of old age in the late 1990s, Tino thanks Maya for giving him one of his best lives.

Tino is again reincarnated to a Saint Bernard named Buddy, only to be taken in by an abusive and neglectful "trailer trash" couple sometime during the next decade. Buddy is eventually dumped in an abandoned lot by the alcoholic, roughneck young man and reluctantly sets off in search of a new life. He gradually makes his way to the country area where his first life began without even realizing at first where he is headed. He joyfully reunites with his old master Ethan, who is now at the far end of middle age, living a lonely solitary life and apparently broken in spirit. Ethan, of course, initially has no idea who this wandering Saint Bernard really is and hands him over to the local animal shelter. But he soon has a change of heart and reclaims him. Buddy, sensing that he has finally found the purpose in life that has long evaded him, finds a way to reunite Ethan with a widowed Hannah, and they eventually get married.

At the movie's end, Buddy finally convinces Ethan that he is Ethan's beloved childhood pet by performing some tricks and responding to key phrases that were known only to the two of them all those many, many long years ago.

Cast

Production

In 2015, DreamWorks acquired the film rights for Cameron's novel.[10] On May 8, 2015, it was announced Lasse Hallström would direct the film.[11] On August 5, 2015, Britt Robertson and Dennis Quaid joined the cast.[8] On September 18, 2015, Pooch Hall was cast in the film.[9] On October 15, 2015, Bradley Cooper joined the cast to play the dog's inner voice.[12] He was eventually replaced by Josh Gad.[13] Principal photography began on August 17, 2015.[14]

Release

In December 2015, the film switched from a DreamWorks Pictures release to under the Amblin Entertainment banner as per Amblin Partners' newly enacted branded strategy.[15] The film was released by Universal Pictures on January 27, 2017.[16]

Box office

As of March 28, 2017, A Dog's Purpose has grossed $63.5 million in the United States and Canada and $111.6 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $175.1 million, against a production budget of $22 million.[2]

In North America was released alongside Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and Gold, and was projected to gross $18–22 million from 3,050 theaters in its opening weekend, slightly lower than initial $27 million tracking had the film debuting to before boycotts against the film were called for.[3] It made $466,000 from Thursday night previews and $5.3 million on its first day. It ended up debuting to $18.2 million, finishing second at the box office behind the second weekend of Split.[17] The film dropped 40.6% in its second weekend, grossing $10.8 million and finishing third at the box office.[18]

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 34% based on 85 reviews, and an average rating of 4.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A Dog's Purpose offers an awkward blend of sugary sentiment and canine suffering that tugs at animal-loving audiences' heartstrings with shameless abandon."[19] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score 43 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[20] On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[21]

Animal abuse allegations

On January 18, 2017, a video surfaced on TMZ showing footage taken from the set of the film, which shows a German Shepherd named Hercules being dragged and dipped into rushing water while visibly resisting.[4] After a cut in the video, the next clip shows the dog being submerged in the water at the other end of the tank while a voice on set can be heard shouting "CUT IT!", and various people are then seen rushing towards the dog.[22] The American Humane Association, which ensures that animals are not harmed in entertainment productions, announced that its representative on set had been suspended over the incident, and that the incident is under further investigation.[23][24] PETA called for a boycott of the film.[25] Actor Josh Gad, who voices the dog in the movie, was not on set during the making of the film, but stated that he was "shaken and sad to see any animal put in a situation against its will".[26] Due to the release of the video, Universal Pictures cancelled the film's scheduled January 19 Los Angeles premiere.[27]

Director Lasse Hallström stated on Twitter that he "did not witness" the actions in the video, and was "very disturbed" by the footage.[28] Amblin Entertainment released a statement in regards to the incident, saying that "on the day of the shoot, Hercules did not want to perform the stunt portrayed on the tape so the Amblin production team did not proceed with filming that shot", and that "Hercules is happy and healthy".[29]

Dennis Quaid also came out against the TMZ video, stating that the video did not tell the whole story, saying:

My experience is that the animals were treated great. There was no animal abuse. That video that someone took and sold for money and held on to for a year and a half until right before the film's coming out, does not tell the whole story. First of all, it's been edited and manipulated. And I think it's a scam, to tell you the truth. What they (the viewers of the video) saw was completely out of context. It was edited...and all of the footage I saw, the dog was going into the water happily and had to be restrained, actually, from going into the water many times during that day.

Quaid also said that the video was shot

towards the end of the day and I would not say, in real context, that the dog was frightened. The dog was acting like a dog who was kind of tired of taking a bath and was ready to get out. And, in fact, that's what happened. They took the dog out.[30]

On February 4, 2017, the American Humane Association reported that an independent third-party animal-cruelty expert had concluded that safety measures on the set of the film were in place and the video had been deliberately edited to mislead the public.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Rachel Portman Scoring Lasse Hallstrom's 'A Dog's Purpose' - Film Music Reporter". filmmusicreporter.com. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d "A Dog's Purpose (2017)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Box Office: Can 'A Dog's Purpose' Still Win the Weekend After Canine Controversy?". Variety. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Leigh Blickley (18 January 2017). "Leaked Video From 'A Dog's Purpose' Set Calls Film's Treatment Of Animals Into Question". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Third Party Investigation Finds No Animal Injuries, Cruelty on Set of 'A Dog's Purpose'". The Hollywood Reporter. February 4, 2017. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  6. ^ Scheck, Frank (January 24, 2017). "'A Dog's Purpose': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 3, 2017. Production companies: Amblin Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment, Walden Media, Pariah Entertainment Group Distributor: Universal Pictures
  7. ^ Barker, Andrew (January 24, 2016). "Film Review: 'A Dog's Purpose'". Variety. Retrieved March 7, 2017. A Universal Pictures release of an Amblin Entertainment and Reliance Entertainment presentation in association with Walden Media of a Pariah production
  8. ^ a b c d e f Kit, Borys. "Britt Robertson, Dennis Quaid Join DreamWorks' 'A Dog's Purpose' (Exclusive)". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  9. ^ a b Lincoln, Ross A. (2015-09-18). "Pooch Hall Joins 'A Dog's Purpose', Doug McKeon Will Run With 'LBJ'". Deadline. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  10. ^ Kit, Borys (September 16, 2016). "Bradley Cooper in Talks to Voice 'A Dog's Purpose' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
  11. ^ Fleming, Mike (2015-05-08). "'A Dog's Purpose' Set At DreamWorks With Lasse Hallstrom To Direct". Deadline. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  12. ^ Kit, Borys (2015-10-15). "'A Dog's Purpose': Bradley Cooper in Talks to Voice". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  13. ^ "Josh Gad is Reincarnated Over and Over in the A Dog's Purpose Trailer". 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2016-08-26.
  14. ^ "On the Set for 8/21/15: Eddie Redmayne Starts Fantastic Beasts, Russo Brothers Wrap Up Captain America: Civil War". SSN Insider. 2015-08-21. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  15. ^ Busch, Anita (December 16, 2016). "It's Official: Spielberg, DreamWorks, Participant, eOne, Others Pact For Amblin Partners". Deadline.com. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  16. ^ Busch, Anita (2015-09-22). "'A Dog's Purpose' Movie Based On Best-Selling Book To Unleash In 2017". Deadline. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  17. ^ "Is Controversy Impacting 'A Dog's Purpose' At The Box Office?". Deadline.com.
  18. ^ "'Split' Dings 'Rings'; Auds Keep Distance From 'Space'; 'Comedian' Bombs: Sunday Update". Deadline.com.
  19. ^ "A Dog's Purpose (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  20. ^ "A Dog's Purpose reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  21. ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  22. ^ "'A Dog's Purpose' Video Shows Terrified German Shepherd Forced to Film". tmz.com. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  23. ^ "'A Dog's Purpose' Video Triggers Suspension". TMZ. January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  24. ^ Catherine Garcia (18 January 2017). "Investigation opened into 'disturbing' treatment of German shepherd on set of A Dog's Purpose". The Week. Retrieved 18 January 2017. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  25. ^ "PETA Calls for Boycott of ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ After Disturbing Video Surfaces", Dave McNary. Variety. January 18, 2017. Accessed January 18, 2017
  26. ^ Sandra Gondalez (19 January 2017). "'A Dog's Purpose' faces backlash after 'disturbing' video surfaces". CNN.com. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  27. ^ "Universal Pictures cancels premiere of 'A Dog's Purpose'". 20 January 2017.
  28. ^ Bryan Alexander (19 January 2017). "'A Dog's Purpose' reels after outrage over disturbing set video". USA Today. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  29. ^ Karen Mizoguchi (19 January 2017). "A Dog's Purpose Releases Statement Following Controversial Video: We 'Foster an Ethical, Safe Environment for Animals'". People. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  30. ^ John Boone (23 January 2017). "EXCLUSIVE: Dennis Quaid Shuts Down 'A Dog's Purpose' Abuse Allegations: 'I Would Have Walked'". ETOnline. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
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