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Is “A Dog’s Journey” one of the sweetest canine films out there, or one of the meanest? While I generally favor the latter reading, the gentle sniffling mixed with occasional awws and chuckles that broke out during my screening suggests the majority of the audiences will understandably lean otherwise, as they did with the film’s 2017 predecessor, “A Dog’s Purpose.” In theory, this unconditional affection seems mighty unjust for a shameless family franchise that kills an average of four to five dogs per movie, sometimes, in unspeakably wretched fashions—seriously, where is John Wick when you need him? And yet, as visually uninspired and ideologically conservative as it may be, there seems to be something beguiling about the series that keeps one (including myself, admittedly) on a short leash. Turns out, very few are immune to the sneaky suggestion that certain dogs and humans are meant for each other for life.   

This is indeed the philosophy behind TV veteran Gail Mancuso ’s “A Dog’s Journey,” which follows in the paw prints of its Lasse Hallström-directed ancestor with its assembly line of doggie fatalities. (Every dog-loving cinephile’s most cherished website “DoesTheDogDie.com” must be having a field trip with these films.) And before you cry out “spoiler alert,” know that spelling out the mounting corpses of our four-legged furry pals in these tearjerkers is not exactly a wrongdoing. Adapted from W. Bruce Cameron’s best-selling novels, the pair of syrupy films follows a Buddhist philosophy, imagining a world in which a dog’s spirit reincarnates in the body of a new adorable puppy (somehow, voiced by Josh Gad even when it’s a female) and pursues its original human to eternity.

“Journey” picks up where “Purpose” had left off, dropping us on a tranquil Midwestern farm ran by the impossibly wholesome couple Ethan ( Dennis Quaid ) and his wife Hannah ( Marg Helgenberger ). Their carefree “Boss Dog” Bailey, a handsome Great Pyrenees Bernese Mountain Dog, runs around the picturesque fields and happily chases his own tail, while keeping a watchful eye on Ethan and Hannah’s baby granddaughter CJ (affably played by Abby Ryder and Kathryn Presscott in later ages), parented by the couple’s heavy-drinking widowed daughter-in-law Gloria ( Betty Gilpin ). Bailey exits the picture soon enough—poor Boss Dog has a cancerous lump—but returns promptly in the body of Molly the mischievous Beagle, reuniting with the 11-year-old CJ to keep a promise he’s made to Ethan. Now living away from her grandparents with the negligent Gloria, CJ finds the kind of comfort and support every child needs in Molly.

Our determined pooch returns again and again as Bailey drops dead in a continuous loop: once, as the African Boerboel Big Dog living on a roadside convenience store (or, “a house made of snacks,” as he calls it), and then as the snippy Terrier Max. Meanwhile, CJ goes through her own transformation and finds herself in the unforgiving streets of New York City as a budding musician with a severe case of stage fright. A series of mean boyfriends—one, a dangerous stalker responsible for Molly’s horrific death—doesn’t help with her insecurity, until she stumbles upon her beloved childhood friend Trent ( Henry Lau ) and falls in love. (Guess what wet-nosed character masterminds the reunion with a paw shake and tail wag?)

Rest assured, there is sufficient amount of cuteness to go around in “Journey,” complete with dutiful canine humor around pooping, face licking, and the perpetual pursuit of food. But while the film engages with the sadness and despair of certain life crises head-on—an unexpected case of terminal illness is especially well-conceived in that regard—it strangely falls short of treating others with the empathy and seriousness they deserve. Written by Cameron, Maya Forbes , Cathryn Michon and Wallace Wolodarsky , the story is outright hostile to Gloria, a paper-thin character whose mourning and alcoholism receives a cruel one-dimensional treatment. A gold-digging ex-girlfriend of Trent suffers in the hands of a similar caricaturized vision. And yet, no one comes to a film like this, where the world is divided into absolute goods and evils, for nuance or subtlety. If you can look behind the flat visuals and prescriptive pleasantries of “Journey,” you might just get on board with its compelling-enough tale of lost souls, found and lifted up by their forever-loyal pooches. On this earth and beyond.

Tomris Laffly

Tomris Laffly is a freelance film writer and critic based in New York. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), she regularly contributes to  RogerEbert.com , Variety and Time Out New York, with bylines in Filmmaker Magazine, Film Journal International, Vulture, The Playlist and The Wrap, among other outlets.

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Film credits.

A Dog's Journey (2019)

Rated PG for thematic content, some peril and rude humor.

120 minutes

Dennis Quaid as Ethan

Betty Gilpin as Gloria

Josh Gad as Bailey (voice)

Abby Ryder Fortson as Young CJ

Marg Helgenberger as Hannah

Kathryn Prescott as CJ

Ian Chen as Young Trent

Daniela Barbosa as Liesl

Jake Manley as Shane

• Gail Mancuso

Writer (book)

• W. Bruce Cameron
• Maya Forbes
• Cathryn Michon
• Wallace Wolodarsky

Cinematographer

• Rogier Stoffers
• Robert Komatsu

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A Dog's Journey

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Rent A Dog's Journey on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

A Dog's Journey is as sentimental as one might expect, but even cynical viewers may find their ability to resist shedding a tear stretched to the puppermost limit.

Audience Reviews

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Gail Mancuso

Kathryn Prescott

Betty Gilpin

Dennis Quaid

Marg Helgenberger

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Movies in theaters, movie news & guides, this movie is featured in the following articles., critics reviews.

clock This article was published more than  4 years ago

‘A Dog’s Journey’ will make you cry, but it does not earn those tears

“A Dog’s Journey” tries to prove that it’s possible to make an uplifting movie in which a dog dies — repeatedly. That’s not a spoiler; it’s literally the plot of the film.

“Journey” rests on the same conceit as its 2017 predecessor, “A Dog’s Purpose.” In both films, based on best-selling books by W. Bruce Cameron, a dog named Bailey (voice of Josh Gad) gets repeatedly reincarnated, each time to protect someone important. The previous film focused on a character named Ethan. Now it’s Ethan’s granddaughter, C.J. (Kathryn Prescott.)

We first meet her as a toddler (Emma Volk), living with her grandparents (Dennis Quaid and Marg Helgenberger), whose son was killed in a car accident before C.J. was born. The son’s widow, Gloria (Betty Gilpin), lives with her daughter C.J. — rather tensely — on the family farm. When a major conflict arises, Gloria and C.J. head to Chicago, where Gloria is planning to pursue a singing career. Through the course of four lifetimes and various dog breeds and genders, Bailey is always there to protect C.J. from danger, including a less than desirable home life and abusive boyfriends.

There’s nothing wrong with a good cry at the movies. But a bad cry is emotionally manipulative and, well, just mean. “A Dog’s Journey” is the latter.

Because the story belongs to Bailey, we have to watch him die, over and over. At these moments, it feels like the entire film is structured to get the audience from one death to another. Although there are some very nice scenes between Gloria and the adult C.J. (as well as with the tween version, played by Abby Ryder Fortson), how can we appreciate them if there’s always this looming sense of doom? Is it even possible to enjoy Gad’s charming performance while we’re waiting for the next time Bailey goes to doggy heaven — a place that looks like the field Russell Crowe glowered over in “Gladiator”?

A movie should earn our tears. And it does that by giving us complex characters to whom we can relate. It doesn’t have to take long: “Up” did it in a near-silent opening montage that covered the span of a married life in just minutes. Here, nearly all the characters are underwritten. When it comes to Gloria, it’s just vicious. Gilpin manages to add some nuance in early scenes, where it’s clear that her anger and selfishness come from grief at the loss of her husband. But eventually, the script falls back on an old trope: she’s a bad mother because she drinks wine (admittedly too much), wears leather pants and has her own headshots hanging on the wall.

There are laughs; many of them come from the fact that dogs sniff rear ends and relieve themselves in inappropriate places. Cleverer moments show up from time to time, though they’re few and far between.

“A Dog’s Journey” plays on one of the rawest nerves humans have: the one triggered by our bond with dogs. (If you want to add tension to any scene, just put a dog in jeopardy). The love we share with our canine companions is one of the simplest emotions there is, and to build an entire film around manipulating that love is lazy storytelling. If you want to cry at the movies, “A Dog’s Journey” will achieve that. If you want to have a satisfactory cry — one that comes from empathy and not cheap emotional ma­nipu­la­tion — stay home and watch “Up.”

PG.  At area theaters. Contains mature thematic elements, some peril, rude humor, drinking and minor drug use. 108 minutes.

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‘A Dog’s Journey’ Review: Good Boys (and Girls) on a Mission

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By Glenn Kenny

• May 16, 2019

The preponderance of viral dog videos proves that the animals are sufficiently attractive, intelligent and resourceful that they don’t need stories about their reincarnation to entertain and warm hearts. Nevertheless, we now have “A Dog’s Journey,” the sequel to “A Dog’s Purpose” (2017), all about a multiple-incarnation pooch on a mission to protect a human.

We begin with the always-welcome Dennis Quaid, as a farmer with a strong bond to the shaggy St. Bernard/Australian shepherd mix Bailey. As Bailey is put to sleep, Quaid’s character begs the dog to look after his granddaughter CJ.

Among the many challenges in CJ’s then-toddler life is Gloria, a single mom possessed of more hostility than the entirety of Elvis Costello’s 1970s output. Gloria becomes a drunk and the older CJ adopts Molly, a delightful beagle/Cavalier King Charles spaniel mix who is, yes, possessed by the spirit of Bailey. (Josh Gad provides the cloying dog voice-over regardless of the gender of any individual beast.)

Adult CJ moves to New York and becomes Maggie Rogers with stage fright, or something like that. There, the new incarnation Max, a Yorkshire terrier, “improves” CJ’s life by making her homeless.

Directed by Gail Mancuso, the movie is packed with cardboard characters who only exist to check off bad-things-happen plot points. Stick around long enough and irritation may turn into incredulity as “Journey,” with the enthusiasm of a pep squad turning cartwheels, flips an increasing number of morbidity-skirting twists. Could you have predicted, when Molly learned how to be a cancer sniffer, that Max would retain that talent and use it to diagnose a central character?

I suppose it’s a genuine achievement that a movie packed with as much delightful canine (and agreeable human) talent as this one should be so insufferable.

Rated PG for mature dog themes. Running time: 1 hour 48 minutes.

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• DVD & Streaming

A Dog’s Journey

• Comedy , Drama , Kids

Content Caution

In Theaters

• May 17, 2019
• Voice of Josh Gad as Bailey the dog; Kathryn Prescott as C.J.; Betty Gilpin as Gloria; Marg Helgenberger as Hannah; Dennis Quaid as Ethan; Henry Lau as Trent

Home Release Date

• August 20, 2019
• Gail Mancuso

Distributor

• Universal Pictures

Movie Review

As Bailey sits in the kitchen, in his favorite spot by his favorite chair, the aging St. Bernard can’t help but think that life is good on his little farm. His boy, Ethan, well, isn’t quite a boy anymore. And his girl, Hannah, isn’t so girlish either. But that’s OK. There’s still sunshine to lie in, chores to help with, golden fields to romp through and a purpose to fulfill. Oh, and … bacon.

Yeah, bacon is definitely good.

And that’s why the littlest member of their pack, C.J., is one of Bailey’s favorites. That toddling girl is good at playing and snuggling. But she’s great at bacon. All Bailey has to do is wait by her chair at meal times, like now, and any number of treats will drop to the floor and into his domain. Yum. Good C.J.

Now C.J.’s mother, Gloria, isn’t so much fun. Or good. Or nice, even. But since she’s the one who brought CJ into the pack, everything else is forgiven.

Maybe it’s the fact that Gloria sleeps so long or talks endlessly into that tiny box in her hand. Maybe that’s what keeps her so unhappy. Maybe it’s that stuff she drinks that makes her smell funny most of the time. Or maybe it’s that Ethan and Hannah’s son hasn’t come home. He has been gone a long time it seems. (Of course, time is something a dog like Bailey doesn’t really understand very well.) It’s probably bacon. Gloria just needs more bacon. She ought to spend more time around C.J.

Bailey would share.

As Bailey sits and looks lovingly on, though, he can sense that things aren’t so good for the humans he protects and loves. And that feeling is soon proved out as Gloria starts to yell and begins to wave her arms anxiously and grabs C.J. out of her chair.

Then, before you know it, Gloria and little C.J. leave. And this leaves Ethan and Hannah so very sad. Bailey can sense their sorrow as plainly as he can remember the taste of bacon he’s no longer eating.

But soon, Bailey gets sick with a strange lump in his belly. And before Ethan can say, “Good boy, Boss Dog,” things have gotten worse. The lump hurts. Bailey isn’t hungry, even for bacon, anymore. He’s pretty sure that he’ll be leaving soon, too.

Ethan holds Bailey’s head and looks lovingly into his eyes and says nice, soothing things as the doctor lady sticks him with a small, sharp needle. And his time—that thing that dogs know so little of—runs out. “If you come back. You look out for our C.J. You hear me?” Ethan says as he strokes Bailey’s fur.

Bailey understands completely.

You see, this isn’t the first time Bailey has had to leave. He’s left and come back many times before in the form of one canine or another. He always returns and seeks after his purpose. But now, Bailey has a new purpose, a new goal.

Bailey will come back. He’ll come back for little C.J., whatever that takes. He’ll protect her. He’ll help her.

That’s his purpose now. And guiding C.J. as she grows up will be a remarkable journey for both of them.

Positive Elements

One of the biggest positives in this film is Ethan and Hannah’s loving relationship. It’s not that they don’t have their share of worry or disappointment and pain in life. They do. But throughout all of those many ups and downs, they display a consistent love and support for each other and for their family members. They even make repeated attempts to reach out to their estranged daughter-in-law, Gloria, after she leaves with little C.J.

That kind of unconditional consistency is very much a part of Bailey’s character, too. “Loving people is my purpose,” the beloved dog declares, voicing his narrator-like internal monologue throughout the film. He even wants the best for unlikeable people, wishing that Gloria might find a dog someday. “She needs love,” he opines—accurately. And the film likewise emphasizes that intention to see the best in others, to love and be loved, as valued aspirations for dogs and humans alike.

Through most of the film, Gloria is in desperate need of that loving lesson. She makes a number of self-destructive choices that drive an adult C.J. away. But eventually, Gloria comes to understand her failings and takes steps to clean up her life and to reconcile with her daughter.

C.J.’s long-lasting relationship with a friend named Trent is also a great representation of self-sacrificial love and consistency. At different stages, these two both step forward to support and care for each other, through sickness, health and ongoing storms in their respective lives.

There are certainly sad moments here as both beloved pets and beloved people pass away . But through those painful losses, the film gently reminds us that grief is a natural part of life—especially when you love someone. Loss is something we must face, embrace and learn from, it tells us.

Spiritual Elements

This film gently hints at a heaven and a reunion with loved ones after death. The spiritual message here isn’t well defined, but at the end of the film, in the doggy hero’s apparent last passing, Bailey runs to join a loving human who’s waiting for him in an open golden field, representing paradise.

Before that final passing, though, Bailey comes back over and over again, reborn repeatedly into the bodies of different kinds of dogs. Each rebirth is prefaced with him running through that golden field of grass. Bailey’s consciousness, however, is always the same, and he retains memories from previous existences.

How that rebirthing process works or what it means is never explored. What’s more, it’s never hinted at or insinuated that humans might have those same rebirthing experiences. In fact, Bailey’s meeting with a deceased beloved human in that heavenly field, would suggest just the opposite.

Sexual Content

Gloria wears a few cleavage-baring outfits. And while C.J. is only a young girl of 11, Gloria leaves her on her own as she heads out on late-night dates. In one case we see that she has brought the guy back home, and that he’s apparently slept over. Another brief relationship implies that a guy has moved in with Gloria. And later, a twentysomething C.J. is living with her boyfriend, though we never see them in any intimate moments.

After Bailey gets reincarnated the first time, he recognizes that he is now a girl puppy (played in a humorous way). We see couples kissing, something Bailey repeatedly describes as people “licking each other.”

Violent Content

We see various incarnations of Baily’s doggy selves die on several occasions. Once, it’s from cancer: he winces and comments about the pain he feels, and his painful decline prompts Ethan to (mournfully) have their vet put him to sleep. In another life, Baily and a teen C.J. are in a car chase that ends with C.J.’s vehicle being purposely rear-ended by another vehicle. Their car crashes and flips, and Bailey is critically injured (though bloodlessly so).

A toddler C.J. wanders into a horse paddock and is in danger of being stomped by a rearing horse before she’s saved by Bailey and Ethan. As both a teen and an adult, C.J. is grabbed roughly by two different guys. In the earlier incident, her shirt is ripped and it appears she might be physically harmed (or perhaps sexually assaulted) before Bailey bites the guy’s leg so that C.J. can pull away and run off.

One of Bailey’s incarnations is a small dog that tends to bite peoples finger’s to keep them at bay.

Crude or Profane Language

We hear one clearly voiced “oh god” as well as another potentially unfinished usage of that profanity. Characters also exclaim “oh my gosh” a couple of times. Trent mentions that his father got angry about something and did a lot of “swearing in Mandarin.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Gloria drinks heavily, repeatedly downing multiple glasses of chardonnay before and after leaving her 11-year-old daughter to fend for herself. We see her quite drunk in one scene and passed out in another, and it’s obvious that her relationships with her boyfriends are all alcohol related. A sleepover boyfriend fixes drinks for breakfast, for instance, etc. In fact, a teen C.J. reports that her mom is “drunk half the time.” And Gloria justifies her inebriated choices as being something that’s perfectly acceptable for an adult.

Eventually, though, Gloria assesses all that her choices have caused her to lose—including a relationship with C.J.—and she takes steps to get sober and fix her broken life.

In spite of her experience with her mom, C.J. agrees to go to a party with a boy she likes. The house is full of underage people drinking beer. The guy tries to coax her into drinking as well, but she’s not at all interested and is very uncomfortable being at the party. We also witness the sale of some kind of illicit drug at the party, a transaction that C.J.’s boyfriend is a part of. Before C.J. can leave the party, the police raid it and arrest her.

As mentioned, a veterinarian injects Bailey, who’s suffering from the growth of a tumor, with a chemical to put the animal to sleep.

Other Negative Elements

Plenty of dog-centric giggles involve backside sniffing, doggy destruction of property, dogs peeing and defecating on things.

Gloria repeatedly illustrates what a bad mom looks like: abandoning, emotionally abusing and even stealing from her daughter.

Like its predecessor, A Dog’s Purpose , this tear-jerking flick avoids nasty content as determinedly as the average mutt scorns a bath. In fact, this canine sequel is unquestionably of the same breed and straight out of the same litter as the original.

That being so, the story’s unexplained doggy reincarnation is likely the biggest issue that parents of faith will have to navigate with little viewers. Some critics have dog-tagged that pup-to-pup soul transfer as “Buddhism for beginners,” but this aspect of the film is actually handled in a pretty non-theological way: It’s simply used as a plot device to help move a somewhat nonsensical tale forward. In addition, the movie’s depiction of heaven as a dreamy golden field of grass could be a great way to talk to kids about what Christian families actually believe when it comes to the things of life, death and the afterlife.

Other than that, there’s a bit of car-crash peril, a struggle with alcoholism, an attempted assault and the sad deaths of both human and canine characters. It’s the sort of unsettling stuff that could ruffle the fur of the youngest dog lovers in your pack.

But if you can make it past those relatively minor barks and growls, you’ll find a warm story here. It not only speaks of the bonds between people and their pets, but it also takes the time to deal with very real issues of bereavement, brokenness, addiction, reconciliation and family commitment.

A Dog’s Journey is a sweet, loving and endearing pic. And it will certainly make you smile a little bigger when you get back home to your own joyous, tail-wagging buddy.

Like Bailey, we can make a strong commitment to love our family well and to help them through the ups and downs. For some ways to add a bit more bark or a little wag to your family, check out these Focus on the Family resources:

Building Family Identity

Navigating Tough Issues in Your Family, Part 1

Score One for the Family

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Film Review: ‘A Dog’s Journey’

Canine reincarnation is once more the narrative throughline of this gloopy, goofy, mostly good-natured sequel to 'A Dog's Purpose.'

By Guy Lodge

Film Critic

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You know things are bad for women in Hollywood when there’s one female dog featured in canine cutefest “A Dog’s Journey,” and it still gets to be voiced by Josh Gad. That is, admittedly, an unavoidable consequence of this family franchise’s curious Buddhism-for-beginners premise: the idea that one mind and soul can be carried through the bodies of multiple mutts over the course of eternity, with Gad as our perky spiritual ferry through repeated rounds of Rover reincarnation. As if to compensate, Gail Mancuso ‘s blandly agreeable sequel to the boy-focused 2017 hit “A Dog’s Purpose” reorients its human narrative around a young woman’s troubled road to love and self-fulfilment — via the trusty companionship of various devoted pups.

That aside, fans of the first film will be delighted to find the formula pretty much untweaked, with a steady stream of corn-syrup sentiment binding what would otherwise amount to a feature-length montage of adorable doggy reaction GIFs. Like the first film — which grossed over $200 million worldwide despite early controversy over on-set animal treatment — “A Dog’s Journey” largely succeeds in spite of its own ickiest instincts. Even as its storytelling hovers on the border between capable and risible, the film knows exactly which dog-lover buttons to push, particularly those nearest the tear ducts. Replacing “Purpose” director Lasse Hallström (who retains an executive producer credit) to make a rather anonymous debut feature, Emmy-winning TV veteran Mancuso (“Modern Family,” “Roseanne”) offers less prettified styling and more sitcom-style beats. Commercially, it should bark up equivalent numbers to its predecessor.

Once more drawn from a novel by W. Bruce Cameron — who has a hand in the screenplay, along with three other writers — the new film picks up more or less where the previous one left off, with Bailey, a regal St. Bernard-Australian Shepherd cross, living out his golden years on an idyllic Michigan farm with doting master Ethan ( Dennis Quaid ) and his wife Hannah (Marg Helgenberger). New to the family are Gloria (Betty Gilpin, fresh from her breakout in TV’s “Glow”), the (gasp) dog-agnostic widow of Hannah’s late son, and her infant daughter CJ, whose future upbringing is a bone of contention between Gloria and her oppressively wholesome in-laws. When Gloria finally leaves, whisking CJ off to Chicago, Bailey dies not long after: In the dog’s final moments, and certainly the film’s most unabashedly weepy scene, Ethan orders its wandering spirit to look after his granddaughter.

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While this franchise steers clear of any clear political affiliation, conservative family values predominate: Single motherhood, in particular, gets an unfortunate bad rap as Gloria, having turned her back on Ethan and Hannah’s heartland haven, swiftly turns into an abusive, daytime-drinking harpy. Good thing Bailey — now in the guise of eager beagle Molly — is on hand to help 11-year-old CJ through her adolescent years, complete with bad boyfriend trouble, burgeoning singer-songwriter ambitions and the steadfast support of best friend Trent (played as a child by Ian Chen, and later by K-pop heartthrob Henry Lau). (He loves dogs himself, just in case it weren’t entirely clear that he’s The One.)

After finishing school and falling out with her mom, it’s off to New York City for CJ, now played by appealing Brit actress Kathryn Prescott, of “Skins” fame. There, a different Bailey carrier — feisty Yorkshire terrier Max — sees her through assorted personal crises, all while nudging proceedings toward their plain-as-day, home-sweet-home conclusion. Along the way, the rather cluttered script goes through some high-stakes narrative pivots that subsequently leave almost no mark at all: A sudden, momentary shift into stalker-thriller territory is jarring, while the brisk introduction and resolution of a whole cancer subplot in ten minutes flat must be some kind of industry record.

Still, these are the few adult-oriented elements of Cameron’s novel that have survived the stringently PG-minded adaptation; darker, more intriguing themes of suicide and eating disorders have been shed like a dog’s winter coat. After all, it’d be hard to write pooch-perspective wisecracks about such matters, and harder still for Gad to deliver them in his constant, mollifying tone of aw-shucks optimism. Cameron’s books may not have been for children, but their film versions know on which side their doggy biscuits are buttered. That’s probably for the best, given the overall glibness of the human drama here, though Gilpin deserves credit for trying to carve some emotional complexities into her lightly drawn villain.

Otherwise, the bounding canine ensemble takes the prize for, well, best in show: The endless quips about bacon and butt-sniffing may wear thin, but it’s hard to take no joy in a film that treats a jowly boerboel chasing after a receding car much like a melodrama heroine left yearning on a train platform, as Mark Isham’s thick, stringtastic score slobbers away in the background. One wishes the film were a bit more inventive with its dog’s-eye view: the odd ground-level action shot aside, there isn’t much to cinematically suggest how animals see the world differently. (Surely a sequence that places one of Bailey’s incarnations in a recovery cone is crying out for a POV-based visual gag.) Mostly, however, “A Dog’s Journey” is content simply to point out how our furry friends are so like us — or, at the very least, a lot like Josh Gad.

Reviewed at Cineworld Wood Green, London, May 4, 2019. Running time: 108 MIN.

• Production: A Universal Pictures release of an Amblin Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment presentation of a Pariah production in an association with Alibaba Pictures Group, Walden Media. Producer: Gavin Polone. Executive producers: Seth William Meier, Lasse Hallström, Luyuan Fan, Wei Zhang. Co-producers: Holly Bario, Ian Dimerman.
• Crew: Director: Gail Mancuso. Screenplay: W. Bruce Cameron, Maya Forbes, Cathryn Michon, Wallace Wolodarsky, adapted from the novel by Cameron. Camera (color, widescreen): Rogier Stoffers. Editor: Robert Komatsu. Music: Mark Isham.
• With: Josh Gad (voice), Kathryn Prescott, Betty Gilpin, Dennis Quaid, Marg Helgenberger , Abby Ryder Fortson, Henry Lau, Ian Chen, Conrad Coates, Jake Manley, Daniela Barbosa, Kevin Claydon.

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A Dog's Journey

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A DOG’S JOURNEY

The film starts with the dog known as Bailey (voice of Josh Gad) living on a farm with his owner and practical lifelong companion, Ethan Montgomery (Dennis Quaid) and his wife Hannah (Marg Helgenberger). Bailey loves that he has gotten to be with Ethan in his current life as a St. Bernard, in which he gets to spend time with him doing chores and doing the trick where he jumps off Ethan’s back to catch a ball, though they both note that it’s not getting easier.

Ethan and Hannah are visited by Gloria (Betty Gilpin), who was dating their son Henry before he was killed in a car accident and left her alone to care for their infant daughter Clarity June/CJ (Emma Volk). Bailey likes CJ but Gloria hates dogs and is constantly bitter. She also appears to neglect CJ, as seen when she is on the phone and doesn’t see CJ walking to the stable where the Montgomerys’ horse Lioness is. Bailey rushes to protect CJ before Ethan comes in and scoops CJ up, chastising Gloria for not watching her. Ethan and Hannah later discuss Gloria’s situation, and moments later, Ethan feels a lump on Bailey’s stomach.

Ethan and Hannah try to help Gloria as she is looking for work, but she constantly interprets this as them condescending her. She also thinks they want the money left from Henry’s life insurance, but all they want is to ensure that CJ is taken care of. Angered, Gloria takes CJ and leaves the farm, cutting Ethan and Hannah off. Later, Ethan finds Bailey lying in the barn, knowing his time is coming to an end. A vet comes to euthanize Bailey, but not before Ethan has one final moment with him and asks that when he comes back, that he look after CJ. The vet injects Bailey, and his pain goes away.

Bailey runs through a grassy field and sees a vision of CJ. He is reborn as a girl beagle named Molly, who stays in a home for dogs. She is closest to another dog named Rocky. One day, a boy named Trent (Ian Chen) comes to adopt a dog, and he picks Rocky, which means Molly will be alone. However, she then spots a little girl and instantly recognizes her as a now 11-year-old CJ (now played by Abby Ryder Fortson). Molly runs out to her and pounces on CJ, who quickly takes a liking to her. The dog keeper, Hilda (Arlene Duncan), asks Trent if he would take two dogs since Molly and Rocky are inseparable, but his parents are firm that he can only pick one dog. CJ decides to take Molly and keep her a secret from her mom.

CJ brings Molly home, and she immediately starts to make a mess. She tries to hide Molly from Gloria, who is now trying her hand at being a singer but is also an alcoholic who continues to disregard her daughter and leaves her alone when she needs her. However, with Trent’s help, CJ manages to convince Hilda that Gloria said it was okay to adopt Molly. Eventually though, Gloria does find out about Molly but is guilted by CJ into letting her keep the dog.

Molly grows with CJ (now played by Kathryn Prescott), who is trying to become a singer/musician. She is still friends with Trent (now played by Henry Lau), who still has Rocky. While walking Molly, CJ meets a guy named Shane (Jake Manley), whom Molly immediately distrusts, but CJ takes an interest in him.

Ethan and Hannah go to Gloria’s house to try and pay CJ a visit, but she still holds animosity toward them and refuses to let them see her. Molly sees Ethan and tries to get his attention. After doing so, Ethan quickly figures that Molly is Bailey.

Shane invites CJ to a party which gets stopped by the cops quickly. CJ is left to get arrested while Molly is taken to a shelter and is later picked up by Trent. CJ is forced to do community service at a dog shelter where dogs are trained to detect cancer through smells, which Molly learns how to do.

Later, CJ gets angry with Shane for leaving her at the party, and he forcibly grabs her to get her to stay. She goes home to tell Gloria what happened, but she shows indifference and suggests it was CJ’s fault for provoking him. When CJ mentions leaving to New York with Henry’s insurance settlement money, Gloria reveals she spent all of it to take care of themselves. CJ furiously leaves with Molly. On the road, Shane follows her and ends up rear-ending her, causing CJ to swerve and crash their car while he flees from the scene like the coward that he is. CJ is okay, but Molly is severely injured and she soon dies in CJ’s arms.

Bailey/Molly is once again running through the field before he comes back as a mastiff that is owned by a convenience store owner named Joe (Conrad Coates). In this life, he is named Big Dog, and he is still making it his mission to protect CJ. She ends up walking into Joe’s store one afternoon, and he walks over to get her attention. It is clear that she is still hurting over Molly. Big Dog shakes CJ’s hand the way she taught Molly to do. CJ starts to drive away, and Big Dog runs after her, but he gives up and watches her leave before Joe goes back to reclaim him. Big Dog spends the rest of his life with Joe, but is still sad that he won’t be seeing CJ anytime soon.

After Big Dog passes on, Bailey comes back as a Yorkshire terrier named Max. He is at the park for an adoption fair, and he bites anyone that shows interest in him so that he can be saved for CJ. Sure enough, he sees her and escapes his pen to run after her. Max follows CJ into an elevator and is almost caught by his leash when the doors close, but CJ saves him. She brings him back to the fair and is told by the event coordinator that if Max doesn’t find a home soon, he will be put down the next day. CJ decides to take him back home where she lives with her boyfriend Barry (Kevin Claydon) and his dog Duke.

CJ now works as a dog walker while also trying to keep up with her music career. While taking Max out, they both discover that Trent lives in the same building with his girlfriend Liesl (Daniela Barbosa). Max is excited to see Trent, but soon figures out that Rocky is long gone. Max wants to get CJ and Trent together, so he manages to break her and Barry up by chewing on his shoes and making him step in his poo. Barry also turns out to be a jerk who doesn’t support CJ’s music career, so that’s enough to send her out. This also causes even Duke to turn on Barry. Trent allows CJ to crash with him and Liesl, but Liesl shows signs of jealousy and distrust toward CJ.

As the two friends catch up with one another, Max detects something wrong with Trent. He admits to CJ that he’s been feeling funny after a trip to London, and after going to the doctor, it is discovered that Trent has cancer. Liesl breaks up with him because she can’t bear the thought of having to take care of him, so CJ stays by his side. Eventually, after much chemo, Trent is cancer free. While spending time with CJ, he notes that she might have stage fright, which is why she hasn’t been ready to perform in front of an audience.

CJ is contacted by Gloria after not seeing her for years. She agrees to meet up for lunch, where Gloria tells her she has been sober for almost a year, and how sorry she is for not being the mom she should have been. She gives CJ a box of Henry’s things that his parents brought to her when Molly was alive, which contain letters that Henry wrote to Gloria while she was pregnant. This inspires her to get over her stage fright, write new music, and finally perform. After doing her song, everyone applauds her performance.

CJ and Trent later travel to visit Ethan and Hannah. The two embrace their granddaughter, and Ethan spots Max and once again knows it’s Bailey, calling him “Boss Dog” like he always did, and Max happily reacts to it. Ethan tells CJ how Max is the same dog he’s had since he was a child and demonstrates this by having Max do the ball-catching trick off Ethan’s back. This makes CJ think about all the coincidental things with Big Dog and Max, like how he knew how to shake like Molly or detect Trent’s cancer. She runs to Trent and says she thinks that Max (and every dog he was before) always found her to bring them together. They admit their love for each other and share their first kiss.

Years pass, and CJ’s music career takes off. She and Trent get married and have a son, and she lets Gloria, plus Ethan and Hannah, be part of his life. Soon, Ethan passes away from old age with Max by his side for the last time. Not long after, it is Max’s time to go, and CJ and Trent stay with him in his final moments, letting him know what a great dog he always was.

The film ends with Bailey running through the grassy field again where Ethan is waiting for him, and now they can be together forever.

Related Movies:

A dog named Bailey has lived multiple lives with the intent to return to his original owner Ethan. As Bailey is about to pass on again, Ethan (who knows about Bailey's reincarnations) asks him to look after his granddaughter Clarity June/CJ, whose mother Gloria is troubled and tries to cut off Ethan and his wife Hannah from CJ's life.

Bailey finds CJ as a child in the form of a beagle named Molly. She stays with CJ into her teen years before a car accident separates them. Bailey finds CJ again as a Yorkshire terrier named Max, who comes into CJ's life when she is a young adult trying to kickstart a music career. With Max's help, she reunites with her childhood best friend Trent. After all they go through, Gloria comes back into CJ's life after being neglectful for so long, but she is ready to start over.

CJ and Trent bring Max to visit Ethan and Hannah, and Ethan proves to CJ that Max is the same dog that's been with both of them for their whole lives. CJ realizes that Max (and any dog he's been before) has been protecting her and also brought CJ and Trent back together.

CJ's music career takes off, and she also marries Trent and has a son with him. Ethan passes away, and later Max does too, but they reunite in Heaven in Bailey's original form.

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A Dog's Journey (2019)

Betty gilpin: gloria.

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Betty Gilpin on ‘A Dog’s Journey’ and What to Expect from ‘GLOW’ Season 3

She also talks about why she wanted to the remake of ‘The Grudge’.

From director Gail Mancuso and based on the novel by W. Bruce Cameron , the heartwarming family film A Dog’s Journey (a sequel to A Dog’s Purpose ) follows Ethan’s ( Dennis Quaid ) beloved dog Bailey on a new journey of love, friendship and devotion, this time to his granddaughter CJ (played by Emma Volk , Abby Ryder Fortson and Kathryn Prescott , at different ages in her life). As tension grows between CJ and her mother, Gloria ( Betty Gilpin ), it’s the human-canine bond that helps CJ through the roller coaster of joy and heartbreak that is life.

During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actress Betty Gilpin talked about how difficult it was for her not to get emotional over the story of A Dog’s Journey , the challenge of playing a character who does not have the same love of dogs that she does, working with the different actresses that play her daughter, the importance of showing audiences why Gloria is the way she is, and why the bond between a human and their dog is so special to her. She also talked about the journey she’s taken with the Netflix series GLOW and what fans can expect from Season 3, her fear of horror stories and how that affected her while doing the remake of The Grudge , and why she wanted to do the Blumhouse film The Hunt .

Collider:  I have to say, it was difficult to get through this movie without getting a little bit teary-eyed.

BETTY GILPIN:  I haven’t seen it yet. I’ve been up in Vancouver filming something, and I’m terrified to see the movie. They sent me the promotional package stuff, and in the blooper reel, I had snot running down my face.

When you first read the script, were you able to get through it without needing a box of Kleenex?

GILPIN:  You’re the first person that I’ve said this to, but there were chunks of the script that I didn’t read. I would just skip over things, when I would sense something was coming, and I would be like, “Let’s fast forward two pages.” It’s crazy that my character is so heartless because, when it comes to dogs, I’m the kind of person where, if I see a dog on the street, two blocks away, I’ll start crying. I will get down on my hands and knees in preparation for the dog to come close to me, so that we can have a moment.

When you’re working with dogs, is it hard to remember that you’re actually working and that you can’t just play with the dogs?

GILPIN:  Well, playing Gloria, it felt like, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. All I wanted to do was snuggle with the dogs, between takes, and establish a relationship with them. But the, it felt like emotional terrorism, when they’d then call, “Action!,” and I’d scream at the dogs. I was like, “Maybe it’s best if we don’t get close because I’m just going to disappoint them.” It was so hard, especially when the puppies were on set. They said, “Please don’t interact with them because they’re still in training and they need to be focused,” but they would also need to get to know you still. They’d come be little electric noodles around your ankles, and you had to keep your eye level above them. It was torture. It was excruciating.

What do you think it says about Gloria that she has such an inability to connect with the dogs?

GILPIN:  I think that Gloria has been through so much in her life and has done a pretty good job of repressing a lot of it and just powering through and not facing her demons. Something like a dog sees right through all of that and sees the purest, truest version of you, and that can be too vulnerable and terrifying to someone who doesn’t want to be seen, in that way. I think the same is true for babies. They see you in a way where sometimes people don’t want to be seen in such an unprotected way. One of the best parts of having a dog is that they just inherently know you, through and through. Oh, my god, I’m going to start crying. I love my dog so much.

With A Dog’s Journey , you get to play opposite a variety of actresses, all playing your daughter at different ages. What was it like to work with all of the actresses who were playing your daughter in the film?

GILPIN:  It was pretty amazing. It definitely gave me perspective. I would say that it was humbling to have a young woman, who was five years younger than me, as my daughter, later in the film. And I had also done a scene with her character at two years old, days before. I held that little girl, named Emma [Volk], and had her snuggle up into my collarbone, and we’d have tickle fights, and I’d chase her around. And the, I’d be screaming at her 17-year-old self, days later, drunk. It was a pretty amazing acting exercise, and very disturbing. So often, when you do a project, you’re having to do all of that homework by yourself, in your hotel, the night before. You’re like, “Okay, what was this person like, as a kid? What happened to them?” With this movie, I got to act out all of that homework. That was a really interesting exercise.

Gloria does do some things that can be quite unlikeable, at times, but you do really get a sense that it comes from pain. It’s not like she necessarily set out to be this way.

GILPIN:  Yeah, totally. I think she had big dreams for herself and thought that her life was going to be special. When Henry died and she realized that her life was going a way that she didn’t expect, she got really resentful and angry and started drinking. I think she kept thinking that her life was going to turn a corner, and turn into something miraculous, but it didn’t and she took it out on the things around her, which were, unfortunately, her child and the dogs around her.

It’s a very familiar moment that a lot of people have, when they realize that life has not necessarily turned out how they wanted or expected it to, and they react in different ways to that.  Was it important to you to make sure that she did have some relatability and empathy from the audience, in that regard?

GILPIN:  Yeah, it was really important for me, and just as important to Gail Mancuso, the director, that Gloria not come off as a Cruella de Vil, one-dimensional, evil character. Bruce Cameron writes full people, and you get the benefit of seeing these people over decades, so you get to track how they came to be the way they are. I often play characters where, when I read them, my first reaction is to judge them. And then, I realize, “Okay, no one is just one way.” A lot of people filter vulnerability and disappointment and fear into different things. Where my reaction might just be to be quiet or to retreat, Gloria’s is to lash out. I think that she wanted her life to be magical. She surrounds herself with the wrong kind of men and the wrong kind of booze, and probably the wrong kind of make-up and clothes, to try to get some of that magic. I wanted to be like, “Gloria, sit down on the floor with the puppies. The magic is right in front of you!”

As somebody who clearly is a dog person, what does the bond between human and dog mean to you? Why do you think that’s something that is so special?

GILPIN:  The world is so complicated and confusing and terrifying, and it can feel like all of the pressure is on you to find the version of yourself and your life that is correct, or a victory. A dog doesn’t care about that version of your life. A dog cares about the exact moment that you’re in, right then and there. That is something that’s very easy to forget. I think Gloria forgets that. Every day, I think she’s like, “I just have to get through this day, and tomorrow will be better.” Then, she spends 40 years like that. A dog is this perfect grounding poem of a creature that’s only here for this exact moment, with this exact piece of bacon, and this exact belly rub. They’re never worrying about the future, or panicking about the past. They’re just there for you, right in that second, loving you for exactly who you are, at that moment.

I also think that your work on GLOW has been absolutely terrific.

GILPIN:  Thank you so much.

I have so thoroughly enjoyed that show. I had no idea what to expect, when I initially started watching it, and it’s become a show that I look forward to, every time a new season comes out.

GILPIN:  Yay! Thanks.

What have you most enjoyed about that journey

GILPIN:  I’m 32, and I got that job when I was 30. I’m so glad that this didn’t happen to me when I was 19. My 19-year-old self would scream and throw a plate of spaghetti at me for saying that, but playing Debbie and doing this show, about sideline people finding their center stage version of themselves, has exactly coincided with me finding that within myself and learning how to treat myself like I’m the lead in my own movie, and not the supporting character in someone else’s. Playing Debbie and doing this show has been a life ropes course microcosm for what I’m going through, in my real life. It’s just been the greatest gift to work on it.

What can fans expect from Season 3?

GILPIN:  We’re in Vegas, so it doesn’t get subtler. Things get more outrageous, if you can believe it. (Co-Creators) Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch have created the greatest model and the most difficult model, where they reinvent the show, every single season. It really feels like a completely different show, in a really amazing way. I don’t even know what I’m allowed to say. I will tease that there is a person who is on our show this season where, when I found out they were going to be on it, I thought that they were joking. And then, when I realized that they were serious, I sat down on the floor and sobbed.

I would say that’s a pretty good tease.

GILPIN:  Yes.

You also did the remake of The Grudge , which is a story that I find so scary with imagery that’s so creepy. What was the appeal of that project for you? Do you like that kind of horror?

GILPIN:  I really don’t like horror. There were scenes that we shot in The Grudge , where I had to be like, “Guys? You’re still there, right?” I was calling to the camera crew around the corner. My husband knows, I’m the person that, if I’ve gotta pee in the middle of the night, I’ll be like, “Honey?,” and he’ll be like, “I’m right here. There are no ghosts.” Shooting The Grudge was my worst nightmare, but it also made me the best person for it because I am scared of an empty room with literally nothing. I’m also terrified to see that. I’m going to sob through A Dog’s Journey , and I’m going to scream through The Grudge . I’ve yet to make a movie that I can just sit peacefully and watch.

Do you know what’s next for you? Are you currently working on something now?

GILPIN:  Yes, I’m working on this movie, Coffee & Kareem , that I’m shooting up in Vancouver. It’s a Netflix movie, with Ed Helms and Taraji P. Henson. And I just wrapped on a movie, called The Hunt . It’s going to come out this fall, for Blumhouse. And GLOW is going to come out this summer.

With The Hunt being a Blumhouse movie, which tend to lean toward horror, and you being so afraid of horror, are you just trying to torture yourself?

GILPIN:  I’ve definitely been doing a lot of stunts. I’ve basically been doing stunts for nine months straight. My brain is so happy and feels like all of my dreams are coming true, but my body is like, “We’re not speaking to you, until you do a scene where you’re a librarian.”

What was the appeal of The Hunt ?

GILPIN:  I honestly don’t think that I’m allowed to talk about it, at all. It’s so under wraps, I’m terrified that I’m going to get a neck dart from the inside of my hotel room, by someone that works at Blumhouse, because I think all I’m allowed to say is that I’m in it.

Without revealing anything specific about the plot, was it the script that interested you, was it the specific character, or was it director Craig Zobel?

GILPIN:  I think Craig Zobel, the director, is a complete genius, and is maybe my favorite director that I’ve ever worked with. I just think he’s the next savant to grace behind the camera. It was definitely the character and the fact that, when I was reading the script, I had never screamed aloud and said, “No way! Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god!,” out loud, so many times.

A Dog’s Journey is open in theaters on May 17 th .