A Dog's Purpose

Anyone who has ever loved or said goodbye to a pet will be able to relate to this heartfelt story, adapted by Cathryn Michon from a best-selling novel by W. Bruce Cameron. Director Lasse Hallström uses real animals and limited CGI, so the actors’ interactions with the pets are believable.

Between Josh Gad’s charmingly earnest voice-over performance and more of the arthouse gloss that Hallström has drizzled on everything from “The Hundred-Foot Journey” to “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale,” it’s a weepie that can be tough to resist.

The real problem here, though, is that it's painfully cheesy pablum, relying on hokey burger joint and Friday night football game stereotypes to take the place of character development.

A Dog’s Purpose is an awkward, graceless, meandering and unnecessarily cruel dog movie, and therefore a fairly meaningless one.

It’s often cloying, absurdly melodramatic, and the premise exists largely as a tear-manufacturing device.

Because we see so much of ourselves in them, it’s nearly impossible not to anthropomorphize dogs. Which the filmmakers know, and exploit in the same way that a dog exploits an unattended burrito on the counter — enthusiastically, with no compunctions and not a thought in its head.

What is the meaning of life? Are we here for a reason? Is there a point to any of this? We may never know, but knowing this movie exists may bring some viewers one step closer to giving up on the whole damn thing.

This is one of my all time favorite movies. I loved the concept of a dog going through different lives. I loved the dog commentary. The concept of it was great. I just loved it.

Wow. Whoever wrote this must’ve been an emotional basket case! This movie had its touching moments, but they were too flighty, being quickly replaced with tragedy and sadness. And then that cycle of happy - sad - happy - sad just kept repeating itself. That part was a bit much and made this movie a bit exhausting.

A very emotional movie, and though it isn't amazing, it wasn't bad. The story makes you happy and sad, and your emotion can change every 10 minutes which is good, but also bad. The story was more about the humans than the dog, but the dog pulled it all together. I liked it, and I would say other would to, so give it a watch.

Cheap attempts at tearing your heartstrings with stories that don't really connect with one another. Josh Gad shouldn't have voiced the dog, no one should have.

One of the most predictable and disconnected movies I've ever seen. The performances are a mixed bag, though.