Movie Review: A Dog's Purpose

Every now and then I get tickets for movie screenings and tonight I attended one for A Dog's Purpose due out in theaters January 27th. (Thank you Universal Pictures) Animal Lovers get ready.... UPDATE here is my reaction to the video released on animal treatment during the filming
One reason that I love seeing previews is my rating system: Must See; Interesting; Big Screen; Not Happening (usually for Horror) and DVD(as in wait for).  The first time we saw a preview for A Dog's Purpose (October 8th) Hubby and I agreed on rating it: DVD.  Now rating it DVD doesn't mean we think the movie is going to be bad rather we think it just doesn't need to be seen on the big screen.  After tonight's screening my first impression stands. 

I know a lot of animal lovers are going to be upset with my rating, Ms. M has ready said as much, but truly I don't think this is a movie you need to spend money at the theater on. The story is nice but.... if you've seen a preview for this movie you have seen the movie.  Seriously you know the entire story, okay 90%.  Also I don't think this a great family, let's take the kids to the movies this weekend, story.  There was a family sitting nearby me and at one point the girl (I'm guessing aged 9) whispered "I'm really tired of crying why did you bring me to this".  There were people sobbing every time the dog passed away, which as shown in the previews happens more than once.  The cries were followed by oohs and aahs as we got to see new born puppies immediately after the sad scenes.  I get the circle of life and we shouldn't hide kids from that however 4 times in under 90 minutes is a bit much for must tender hearts.   Josh Gad voices the narration and he's wonderful ~ actually the best part of the movie.  Dennis Quaid and Peggy Lipton actually were outplayed by the younger version of their characters,  K.J Apa and Britt Robertson . I had a couple of story line issues as well but I have a feeling they were addressed in the book and were cut for the movie.  Most sites have this listed with a run time of 120 minutes; I was in my car (after a restroom run) with 15 minutes to spare ~ so I'm guessing there's some of the missing story on an editor's floor.   I'm sure that animal lovers like Ms. M are still going to run out and see this movie.   My advice: see what's playing in another theater and meet them after wards. 3/5 Crowns

Next up: Founder (hopefully we get it this weekend) if not then Split