A Dog’s Way Home DVD 2019

     This film is based on a novel by W. Bruce Cameron with the same title published in 2010.  A puppy has been living in a demolished house across the street from Lucas Ray in Denver, Colorado.  There is a mom cat and kittens living there too along with the puppy’s mother.  Animal control comes to the site and they take away the kittens and the puppy’s mother.  The mother cat starts feeding the puppy her milk.  Lucas and his girlfriend Olivia find the puppy and they name her Bella.  Animal control comes to visit Lucas and Olivia.  The officer determines that Bella is a pit bull and this breed is not allowed in the city of Denver.  If animal control spots Bella on the street, she can be taken in at any time.  Lucas trains Bella to go home in case she gets out of their home.  Despite her training, she is out on the street and officer Chuck takes her to the pound.  Lucas picks up Bella and they take Bella to live with Olivia’s aunt and uncle in Farmington, New Mexico.  Bella wants to be with Lucas and she jumps over their fence.  This starts her adventure to try to get home.

     I didn’t think Bella was a pure pit bull!!  The animal control officer is also over zealous in his enforcement of the town law!!  Many times this film is very up and down and you don’t know how it is going to turn out?  There are good messages about perseverance, empathy and the strong relationship between dogs and their humans.  4* (I really liked this movie)  

96 min, Adventure directed by Charles Martin Smith with Ashley Judd, Jonah Hauer-King, Edward James Olmos, Alexandra Shipp, Chris Bauer, Barry Watson, Motell Gyn Foster, Wes Studi, Bryce Dallas Howard, John Cassini, Brian Markinson, Patrick Gallagher, Brodus Mattison, Roland Boyce, Cesar De Leon.

Note:  Imdb 6.6 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes 61% critic 72% audience, Roger Ebert 3* Tomris Laffly, Common Sense Media Sandie Angulo Chen age 1+, 3* out of 5* (4* positive, 4* role models, 3* violence, 1* sex, 1* language, 1* drinking, drugs & smoking), Amazon DVD 4.5* with 552 reviews, Metacritic 50 out of 100 with 14 critics user score 6 out of 10 with 21 reviews, Letterboxd 2.6* out of 5*.  Amazon gives the novel 4.8* out of 5* with 737 reviews.  

Special Note:  Bella is part pit bull but she also has German Shepherd and Rottweiler mixed in.  Her name is Shelby.  She was chosen from a shelter in Tennessee because she looked like the dog on the cover of the book that inspired this film.  It is not based on a true story.  This film grossed $42 million in the US and Canada and $34 million in other territories for a total worldwide gross of $76 million.  The budget was estimated to be $18 million.  The profit would be $58 million minus advertising costs.  There is another film titled A Dog’s Purpose 2017 and this film is not a sequel.  There is A Dog’s Journey 2019 too.  Filmed in Canada’s western province British Columbia; Denver, Durango and Gunnison, Colorado.