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==Plot==
==Plot==
Bailey (voiced by [[Josh Gad]]) is a dog whose life is shown from his birth to his death and to his [[reincarnation]] through 5 different dog breeds. Each time he is reincarnated, it will tell his story from life to death. Except in the last life, where he meets his original owner again.
Bailey (voiced by [[Josh Gad]]) is a dog whose life is shown from his birth to his death and to his [[reincarnation]] through 5 different dog breeds. Each time he is reincarnated, it will tell his story from life to death. Except in the last life, where he meets his original owner again.
The movie spans from the 1960's to the 2000's (there is a scene where the 1962 Cubafindn Missile Crisis is discussed). Bailey is rescued from a hot car by a young boy named Ethan and his mother who both immediately fall in love with the adorable pup. Ethan's father, a frustrated traveling salesman who is slipping into alcoholism, is not as enamored by the new addition to the family. As the years pass, Ethan grows into a strapping high school football player who falls in love with his classmate Hannah. One of the things that unites them is their mutual adoration of Bailey. However, things take a dark turn when Ethans father shoves his mother to the ground in a drunken rage. Ethan orders his father to leave and never come back. A vindictive classmate throws a lit firecracker into Ethan's house starting a fire that endangers Ethan and his mother. Bailey saves them by waking them up and they escape from an upstairs window. However, in the process Ethan badly fractures his leg ending his hopes of an athletic scholarship. He is forced to go to agricultural school instead. Self pitying and embittered he breaks off his relationship with Hannah before leaving for college. Shortly afterwards, Bailey has to be put down by the vet but not before having a teary goodbye with Ethan who calls him "boss dog". Bailey is immediately reincarnated into another dog life while still remembering his previous existence. He is now a German shepherd K9 dog partnered with Carlos a widower police officer. The two form a close relationship which ends when Bailey saves a kidnapped girl from drowning but is shot and killed in the process. Reincarnated again as a corgi, he forms a bond with Maya an African-American college student whom he helps to find true love. Maya marries and has a beautiful family who all love the corgi. Bailey then dies again and is reincarnated only to be taken in by an abusive "trailer trash" family. He escapes and makes his way home to find his old master Ethan now middle aged. Sensing that he has finally found the purpose in life that has long evaded him, Bailey helps to reunite Ethan and Hannah who are finally married. At the end Bailey manages to convince Ethan he is his beloved childhood pet by performing an acrobatic maneuver with a deflated football that the two had done years before.
The movie spans from the 1960's to the 2000's (there is a scene where the 1962 Cubafindn Missile Crisis is discussed). Bailey is rescued from a hot car by a young boy named Ethan and his mother who both immediately fall in love with the adorable pup. Ethan's father, a frustrated traveling salesman who is slipping into alcoholism, is not as enamored by the new addition to the family. As the years pass, Ethan grows into a strapping high school football player who falls in love with his classmate Hannah. One of the things that unites them is their mutual adoration of Bailey. However, things take a dark turn when Ethans father shoves his mother to the ground in a drunken rage. Ethan orders his father to leave and never come back. A vindictive classmate throws a lit firecracker into Ethan's house starting a fire that endangers Ethan and his mother. Bailey saves them by waking them up and they escape from an upstairs window. However, in the process Ethan badly fractures his leg ending his hopes of an athletic scholarship. He is forced to go to agricultural school instead. Self pitying and embittered he breaks off his relationship with Hannah before leaving for college. Shortly afterwards, Bailey has to be put down by the vet but not before having a teary goodbye with Ethan who calls him "boss dog". Bailey is immediately reincarnated into another dog life while still remembering his previous existence. He is now a German shepherd K9 dog partnered with Carlos a widower police officer. The two form a close relationship which ends when Bailey saves a kidnapped girl from drowning but is shot and killed in the process. Reincarnated again as a corgi, he forms a bond with Maya an African-American college student whom he helps to find true love. Maya marries and has a beautiful family who all love the corgi. Bailey then dies again and is reincarnated only to be taken in by an abusive "trailer trash" family. He escapes and makes his way home to the beautiful country paradise where his first life began only to find his old master Ethan now middle aged, lonely and broken in spirit. Sensing that he has finally found the purpose in life that has long evaded him, Bailey helps to reunite Ethan and Hannah who are finally married. At the end Bailey manages to convince Ethan he is his beloved childhood pet by performing an acrobatic maneuver with a deflated football that the two had done years before.


==Cast==
==Cast==

Revision as of 17:08, 29 January 2017

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[3]
Release date
  • January 27, 2017 (2017-01-27)
Running time
120 minutes[4]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$22 million[5][4]
Box office$23.4 million[4]

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 Wallace Wolodarsky, based on the 2010 novel of the same name by Cameron. The film stars Britt Robertson, K. J. Apa, Juliet Rylance, John Ortiz, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Peggy Lipton, Dennis Quaid and Josh Gad.

The film was subject of scrutiny after a video allegedly from the set was leaked of a dog seemingly being forced into running water.[6] It was released on January 27, 2017, by Universal Pictures and has grossed $23 million worldwide.

Plot

Bailey (voiced by Josh Gad) is a dog whose life is shown from his birth to his death and to his reincarnation through 5 different dog breeds. Each time he is reincarnated, it will tell his story from life to death. Except in the last life, where he meets his original owner again. The movie spans from the 1960's to the 2000's (there is a scene where the 1962 Cubafindn Missile Crisis is discussed). Bailey is rescued from a hot car by a young boy named Ethan and his mother who both immediately fall in love with the adorable pup. Ethan's father, a frustrated traveling salesman who is slipping into alcoholism, is not as enamored by the new addition to the family. As the years pass, Ethan grows into a strapping high school football player who falls in love with his classmate Hannah. One of the things that unites them is their mutual adoration of Bailey. However, things take a dark turn when Ethans father shoves his mother to the ground in a drunken rage. Ethan orders his father to leave and never come back. A vindictive classmate throws a lit firecracker into Ethan's house starting a fire that endangers Ethan and his mother. Bailey saves them by waking them up and they escape from an upstairs window. However, in the process Ethan badly fractures his leg ending his hopes of an athletic scholarship. He is forced to go to agricultural school instead. Self pitying and embittered he breaks off his relationship with Hannah before leaving for college. Shortly afterwards, Bailey has to be put down by the vet but not before having a teary goodbye with Ethan who calls him "boss dog". Bailey is immediately reincarnated into another dog life while still remembering his previous existence. He is now a German shepherd K9 dog partnered with Carlos a widower police officer. The two form a close relationship which ends when Bailey saves a kidnapped girl from drowning but is shot and killed in the process. Reincarnated again as a corgi, he forms a bond with Maya an African-American college student whom he helps to find true love. Maya marries and has a beautiful family who all love the corgi. Bailey then dies again and is reincarnated only to be taken in by an abusive "trailer trash" family. He escapes and makes his way home to the beautiful country paradise where his first life began only to find his old master Ethan now middle aged, lonely and broken in spirit. Sensing that he has finally found the purpose in life that has long evaded him, Bailey helps to reunite Ethan and Hannah who are finally married. At the end Bailey manages to convince Ethan he is his beloved childhood pet by performing an acrobatic maneuver with a deflated football that the two had done years before.

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.[7] 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] Josh Gad eventually replaced him.[8] Principal photography began on August 17, 2015.[13]

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.[2] The film was released on January 27, 2017, by Universal Pictures.[14]

Box office

As of January 29, 2017, A Dog's Purpose has grossed $18.4 million in the United States and Canada and $5 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $23.4 million, against a production budget of $22 million.[4]

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.[5] It made $466,000 from Thursday night previews and $5.3 million on its first day. It ended up debuting to $18.4 million, finishing second at the box office behind Split.[15]

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 33% based on 66 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."[16] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score 43 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[17] On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[18]

Animal abuse allegation

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.[19] 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 saying "cut it", and various people are then seen rushing towards the dog.[20] 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.[21][22] PETA called for a boycott of the film.[23] 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".[24] Producer Gavin Polone wrote in an editorial for The Hollywood Reporter, "Last Thursday, I went to Amblin's office and watched all the film shot on the day in question, as well as saw video from the trainers and still photographs. As with the TMZ video that you saw, two things were evident: 1) the dog handler tries to force the dog, for 35 to 40 seconds, into the water when, clearly, he didn’t want to go in; and 2) in a separate take filmed sometime later, the dog did go into the water, on his own, and, at the end, his head is submerged for about 4 seconds. These two things are absolutely INEXCUSABLE and should NEVER have happened. The dog trainer should have stopped trying to get the dog to go in the water as soon as the dog seemed uncomfortable, and the trainers should have had support under the dog as soon as he came to the side of the pool and/or had less turbulence in the water so he never would have gone under."[25]

Director Lasse Hallström stated on Twitter that he "did not witness" the actions in the video, and was "very disturbed" by the footage.[26] Amblin Entertainment released a statement in regards to the incident, saying that "[o]n 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".[27]

Dennis Quaid has also come out against the TMZ video, stating that the video does not tell the whole story. Quaid states "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." [28]

Due to the release of the video, Universal Pictures cancelled the film's scheduled January 19 Los Angeles premiere.[29]

References

  1. ^ "Rachel Portman Scoring Lasse Hallstrom's 'A Dog's Purpose' - Film Music Reporter". filmmusicreporter.com. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b Busch, Anita (December 16, 2016). "It's Official: Spielberg, DreamWorks, Participant, eOne, Others Pact For Amblin Partners". Deadline.com. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Film releases". Variety Insight. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  4. ^ a b c d "A Dog's Purpose (2017)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Box Office: Can 'A Dog's Purpose' Still Win the Weekend After Canine Controversy?". Variety. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ a b "Josh Gad is Reincarnated Over and Over in the A Dog's Purpose Trailer". 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2016-08-26.
  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. ^ "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.
  14. ^ Busch, Anita (2015-09-22). "'A Dog's Purpose' Movie Based On Best-Selling Book To Unleash In 2017". Deadline. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  15. ^ "Is Controversy Impacting 'A Dog's Purpose' At The Box Office?". Deadline.com.
  16. ^ "A Dog's Purpose (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  17. ^ "A Dog's Purpose reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  18. ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ "'A Dog's Purpose' Video Shows Terrified German Shepherd Forced to Film". tmz.com. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  21. ^ "'A Dog's Purpose' Video Triggers Suspension". TMZ. January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  22. ^ 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)
  23. ^ "PETA Calls for Boycott of ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ After Disturbing Video Surfaces", Dave McNary. Variety. January 18, 2017. Accessed January 18, 2017
  24. ^ Sandra Gondalez (19 January 2017). "'A Dog's Purpose' faces backlash after 'disturbing' video surfaces". CNN.com. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  25. ^ Gavin Polone (23 January 2017). "Gavin Polone on 'A Dog's Purpose' Outcry, What Really Happened and Who's to Blame". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  26. ^ Bryan Alexander (19 January 2017). "'A Dog's Purpose' reels after outrage over disturbing set video". USA Today. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  27. ^ 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.
  28. ^ 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.
  29. ^ "Universal Pictures cancels premiere of 'A Dog's Purpose'". 20 January 2017.
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