‘A Dog’s Way Home’ is a great film for dog lovers, and with less tears

Posted on February 1, 2019

By MARK VIOLA

Back in January 2017, we got a little movie called “A Dog’s Purpose,” which seemed perfectly crafted to appeal to dog lovers, while simultaneously designed to make those same dog lovers cry their ever-loving eyes out. That story, based on the book by W. Bruce Cameron, followed a dog who is reincarnated into new dogs, finding a connection with one little boy and striving to follow him from one life to the next. (Rebirth is only one half of the reincarnation formula, so you can imagine why there were so many tears involved.)

Now we have “A Dog’s Way Home,” also based on one of Cameron’s books, and he once again co-writes the screenplay. Once again, we have a film perfectly crafted for dog lovers, but this time, fortunately, we only follow one dog through one life, so you don’t have to worry about reincarnation and the associated side-effects.

The story follows a young puppy named Bella (voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard, “Jurassic World”), who is rescued by the young man who lives across from the abandoned home under which she was living. Lucas (Jonah Hauer-King, “Ashes in the Snow”) and his mother, Terri (Ashley Judd, “Dolphin Tale”), a war veteran, provide a good home for Bella. Unfortunately, through a series of events that I won’t spoil (although the trailers do their best to do just that), Bella becomes lost many miles away from home and must set out on a journey through which she will meet many different people and animals, but always with the drive to find Lucas.

Overall, “A Dog’s Way Home” is a fine movie, and as I said before, should delight just about any dog lover out there. The constant narration should get annoying, but Howard infused enough emotion into her voice that we are really hearing what the dog is thinking. If you saw “A Dog’s Purpose,” you know what you’re in for in that regard.

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