— by Keith Hawkes
PARENT PREVIEWS –
Making Media Entertainment An Easier Choice For Families
A Dog’s
Way Home
PG
VIOLENCE: (B)
Some scenes of peril which may be frightening to especially young or sensitive children. A gunshot is
heard, and an animal is shown dead. A dead deer is shown, covered almost entirely in leaves. There are
several encounters with a pack of coyotes, one of which involves some non-explicit violence between
the animals. A man is buried in an avalanche but survives with some broken limbs. A homeless man
dies quietly in his sleep. The remains of a small dead animal are shown but are not gory. There are
several vehicle collisions in which no one seems to be hurt, as well as one in which an animal is struck
and injured, with small amounts of blood on its fur.
SEXUAL CONTENT: (A) Couples are seen embracing, once in bed.
OVERALL RATING: LANGUAGE: (A) None. Occasional name-calling or insulting words.
SONY PICTURES
Released on DVD:
April 9, 2019 ALCOHOL / DRUG USE: (A)
Two adult side characters are shown having a glass of wine together
with dinner, but not drinking it. An empty beer can is seen in the
background of another scene.
B
B
ella (voiced by Bryce Dal-
las Howard) is a young puppy,
growing up with her mother and
a pack of cats in the ruins of an old home.
When Animal Control tries to clean out the
space, Bella’s mother is taken, and Bella falls
into the care of one of the cats. That is, until
Lucas (Jonah Hauer-King) and Olivia (Alex-
andra Shipp) come by to feed the cats, and
Bella decides that it’s time to find a new home
with Lucas. Bella grows up to be a large dog
and she and Lucas are very happy — until
Animal Control returns to tell them that since
Bella is a pit bull, she won’t be allowed in the
city and will be euthanized if she is found off
Lucas’ property. To save Bella from this dire
fate, Lucas sends her to stay with friends in
New Mexico temporarily until he can move
to a safer location, but Bella can’t wait for
Lucas to come back. She sets off on a grand
adventure to find her way home and meets
all kinds of strange animals and people on
the way: some friendly, some dangerous, and
some in between.
Frankly, there isn’t too much I can say
about this movie that you can’t intuit from a
plot synopsis or the trailer. It is one of those
films that is exactly what you’d expect it to
be, and nothing more. There are no surpris-
ing twists or dramatic revelations — the char-
acters are the typical “bad” or “good” guys
with few shades of grey, and the plot follows
a pretty standard formula for a lost animal
movie. I don’t know what else you’d expect
from a director whose credits include “Air
Bud” and both “Dolphin Tale” movies. It’s
a safe, sentimental, paint-by-numbers family
picture with strong appeal for children and
animal lovers.
There’s not much for parents to be con-
cerned about here. There is almost no objec-
tionable content of any kind, and all but the
youngest and most sensitive children should
be able to handle the moderate peril and brief
violence in the film. Adults and older teens
may be bored by the insipid story, but hey, if I
can make it through, so can you. Luckily, the
dog is cute and engaging, so that helps. As far
as the production values go, the film is pretty
bland. The script is highly predictable and
the music either sounds like the royalty-free
stuff available online, or, even worse, cheesy
covers of rock classics. There are a few uses
of CGI (some more justified than others: you
don’t really want your canine star play-wres-
tling with a live cougar) and they all look dis-
tinctly out of place.
This isn’t to say that A Dog’s Way Home
is a bad movie. It isn’t a good movie either.
It’s just a harmless movie that will be enjoyed
by its target audience and tolerated by every-
one else.
TALK ABOUT THE MOVIE WITH
YOUR FAMILY…
Lassie, Bella…these fictional dogs
imitate their real life canine counterparts in
making long distances to return home. How
do you think they manage to find their way
across such vast distances?
Pets who get lost are at risk from preda-
tors and disease. Does your community have
animal rescue organizations that care for these
animals? Is there any way you can help?
For additional
information on this
film’s content, visit
www.parentpreviews.com
WATCH AT HOME…
Far From Home: The Adventures of Yel-
low Dog tells the story of a boy and his dog
who are washed ashore after a shipwreck and
must rely on each other to survive and find
their way home. Alpha tells a similar tale, but
one set 20,000 years ago in Ice Age Europe.
Yet another story of a dog (actually two dogs
and a cat) looking for a way back home is told
in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey.
Looking for doggy movies with a sky-
high cute factor? Look no further than Dog
Days and A Dog’s Purpose. Both films will
flip the “awwww” switch for the dog lovers
in your family. Young dog enthusiasts in your
family can enjoy kid-friendly canine tales in
Lady and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatians.
LOVED THE MOVIE?
TRY THESE BOOKS…
A classic kid-friendly novel about the
connection between a boy and his dog is
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.
Newberry Honor Book, Old Yeller, by Fred
Gipson remains a classic story of canine devo-
tion – but don’t read it without a hankie near-
by. Young children grieving a lost or deceased
dog can find comfort in Hans Wilhelm’s I’ll
Always Love You, with its gentle story and
beautiful watercolors about a boy and his dog
and his grief at her death.
Older readers will enjoy Garth Stein’s
Art of Racing in the Rain, which gives a dog’s
perspective on life. Readers looking for a fun-
nier dog’s eye perspective will get a big laugh
out of Jeremy Greenberg’s Sorry I Pooped in
Your Shoe (and Other Heartwarming Letters
from Doggie.)
Readers looking for stories guaranteed to
tug at their heartstrings can head straight for
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Loving Our Dogs:
Heartwarming and Humorous Stories about
our Companions and Best Friends by Jack
Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.
May 2019 WNY Family 21