Movie Thoughts: A Dog's Journey (2019)

• Released: May 17th, 2019
  
• Directed by: Gail Mancuso
• Running time: 1 h 49 min
• Rating 3.5/5

Synopsis

A dog re-incarnates several times and does his best to help his former owner's granddaughter, CJ, throughout every life.

My Thoughts

Okay so this is a sequel to A Dog's Purpose which I have seen before but not yet reviewed on here. I definitely plan on tackling it on this blog in the future, however! However the only basic context you'll need going in is knowing that the dog (Bailey) originally belonged to the older man Ethan, CJ's grandfather. Bailey re-incarnated several times already in the first movie and mostly spent his time trying to get back to Ethan, who is the only one who ever found out that his "new" dog is actually his childhood dog Bailey but re-incarnated several generations later. 

In this sequel, Ethan tells Bailey that, should he re-incarnate again after his current life ends, he should protect Ethan's granddaughter CJ. Bailey makes this his life's (or, well lives') mission. Luckily, he (and sometimes she) always ends up re-incarnating somewhere near CJ, but helping her isn't an easy feat. She has a difficult home life, is poor, has stage-fright but wants to be a musician, and she doesn't have it the best romance-wise, either. Bailey, throughout his several lives, each time tries to help CJ to the best of his abilities. The movie ends with CJ realizing that Ethan wasn't crazy about Bailey being a re-incarnated dog and accepts this truth.

Overall, just like the first, I thought this was a really sweet and heartfelt movie. Not my favorite and it's not fantastic or anything, but it does genuinely pull on the heartstrings sometimes. I also loved the re-incorporation of certain elements of Bailey's past lives. For example, in his life as CJ's first dog he learns how to recognize cancer in patients, which later returns as he lives out his new life as a dog named Max and helps CJ's friend find out about his cancer this way, so it can be treated just in time. That was really heartfelt and wholesome.

I was kind of afraid at first that this movie was going to be a re-thread of the first movie, with it mostly being about the dog trying to get back to his owner throughout multiple lives. Luckily, this isn't really the case much here. There's only one life where Bailey doesn't end up being close to CJ in this movie, the others he conveniently ends up close to her and she does end up taking him in most cases. 

The movie really shines in its heartfelt moments. The moments where Bailey dies, even though we know he's just going to re-incarnate again. The closeness between him and Ethan (who does end up dying in this movie, permanently). The bond he forges with CJ multiple times without her realizing he's multiple dogs she's owned. The moment where Bailey helps Trent by recognizing his cancer just in time. The time when CJ ends up realizing that Bailey truly is a re-incarnated dog. And of course, spoilers for the final ending, him eventually dying one last time to be with Ethan forever in the afterlife.

That last scene was honestly really heartfelt. At first I thought they might have him re-incarnate elsewhere again, but Bailey, having lived about ten lives or so by now, really does deserve to rest. And it's clear that, though he loved every one of his owners throughout his lives, Bailey and CJ are really the ones he is and always will love the most. So him being able to spend the rest of his afterlife with Ethan is a fitting ending. The dog deserves some rest, too, and he was a very good dog throughout his many lives.

If there's one thing I kind of wish this movie did, it's that, in the final scene where Bailey and Ethan are re-united in the afterlife, Bailey goes back to the form of the life he had as Ethan's pet dog in the first movie. He appears to be able to choose his form in the afterlife (based on any of his previous lives' looks), and he goes back to his form at the start of the movie. But I think it'd have been a nice tieback to the first film if he'd chosen the form he had as Ethan's childhood dog from the first film. But, then again, maybe they just couldn't get that dog again to reprise their role. Since these movies use real dogs. Still, it'd have been a nice touch and callback to the first film.

Overall a good and heartfelt movie. Not perfect and Bailey's narration can get a bit grating sometimes, but overall it's a solid film. If you want the feels I do recommend this one (after the first). Just...know that animal death is a major player in the both of them if you're sensitive to that.