A Dog's Purpose's reviews
Media reviews
Entertainment Weekly
'A Dog's Purpose' plays like a family film from another era, its gentle sensibilities a million miles removed from the winky pop culture references and meta layers of most modern all-ages entertainment. The effect is sweet, benignly retro, and just a little bit boring
The Hollywood Reporter
While the human performers are more than adequate, there's no doubt that the canine stars carry the day. Their utter irresistibility helps a long way in terms of getting past the corny plot machinations of A Dog's Purpose.
Variety
It's hard to fault the movie's earnestness; Hallström's canine cinema pedigree (which includes the superior 'Hachi: A Dog's Tale') shows through; and Rachel Portman's score is understandably sentimental without going completely saccharine.
The Wrap
A Dog's Purpose offers many of the highlights of human-canine relations at their warmest and most affectionate, but the film chooses to skim on sun-dappled surfaces (Terry Stacey of 'Elvis and Nixon' was the cinematographer) and sentimentality (Rachel Portman's score bombards the heartstrings) when it might have gone deeper.
The A.V. Club
So what is a dog?s purpose? To provide gentle, forgettable entertainment for moviegoers who lament that "they" don?t make "nice" movies anymore, apparently. For the rest of us, it?s more like a 100-minute nap.
Variety
Lasse Hallström's controversial film about an oft-reincarnated pooch is guilelessly mawkish in its celebration of the canine spirit.
Indiewire
What is the meaning of life? Are we here for a reason? Is there a point to any of this? We may never know, but knowing this movie exists may bring some viewers one step closer to giving up on the whole damn thing.