Dog & pony show

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This article was published 25/01/2017 (3549 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If not for the unfortunate release of a certain behind-the-scenes video, the long-awaited movie version of W. Bruce Cameron’s bestselling novel should have been a benchmark in the dog-movie genre.

It was not to be, apparently. The dubiously edited footage, showcased by TMZ, show a dog skittish about diving into a turbulent pool, and subsequently going underwater once he is in the pool. It has been construed as evidence of animal cruelty on the part of the trainers and has spawned a boycott by PETA, notwithstanding producer Gavin Polone’s fairly credible counter-attack in the Hollywood Reporter suggesting the footage was deliberately edited and presented to create a false impression of a tortured dog.

Like the book, the movie itself, shot in Manitoba in late 2015, is clearly a work made by and for animal lovers. This film by Lasse Hallstrom assumes the perspective of its canine hero — actually several canine heroes, all sharing a single consciousness. (The reincarnation theme is never really explicated and we’re more or less invited to go along for the ride.) A stray pup is born. He is caught by dog catchers. We don’t see what happens after that, but we assume the worst because soon the pup is born again in 1962, this time as a red retriever. The dog escapes a puppy mill and eventually finds a home with a youngster named Ethan (Bryce Gheisar), who falls for the pooch and is allowed to keep it with the approval of his doting mom (Juliet Rylance) and a certain amount of resentful resignation on the part of his alcoholic dad (Luke Kirby).

Years pass. Bailey the dog is a confused witness to shifting relationships within the family, including a marital breakup. He also sniffs out biological changes in the now teen Ethan (KJ Apa) as he courts the lovely Hannah (Britt Robertson), whom he meets while taking his dog to the county fair. (The movie asks for a certain amount of suspension of disbelief when it comes to a reincarnated dog, but it really pushes it when the plot necessitates characters taking dogs to all sorts of inappropriate locales, including university classes, restaurants and county fairs.) Another tragedy strikes the family, and when Bailey starts to show signs of age… well, bring Kleenex.

But reincarnated life goes on. Bailey is born into the body of a female police dog, now named Ellie, trained and partnered with a lonely cop Carlos (John Ortiz). (She may be a female, but her thoughts are still voiced by Josh Gad, who brings wholesome solemnity to his voice-over duties.) 

In yet another incarnation, Bailey becomes a Corgi named Tino, observing while his student owner Maya (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) overcomes a pathological shyness to allow a fellow dog-lover (Pooch Hall) into her life.

It all leads to yet a climax in which Bailey, now in the body of a shamefully neglected St. Bernard/Australian sheepdog mutt named Buddy, makes his way to a familiar farm where he becomes reacquainted with Ethan (Dennis Quaid), now a crusty old guy in need of a push towards his long-ago girlfriend (Peggy Lipton).

Hallstrom, who has directed a couple of dog-themed movies prior to this one — My Life as a Dog and Hachi: A Dog’s Tale — is a seasoned hand at tear-jerking melodrama (Dear John, Safe Haven) but less assured in the realm of comedy, one reason why the film’s frequent moments of canine slapstick tend to fall flat. The movie requires an even ratio of laughter to tears, but it weighs heavier on the melancholy side.

But the film’s good intentions count. Without unduly anthropomorphizing its multiple canine heroes, the film succeeds in giving the audience a way to deeply consider canine consciousness.

How ironic the people who might best appreciate the movie will likely be the ones boycotting it.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing