A Dog's Purpose
Universal Pictures | Release Date: January 27, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
17
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
St. Louis Post-DispatchGabe HartwigJan 26, 2017
Anyone who has ever loved or said goodbye to a pet will be able to relate to this heartfelt story, adapted by Cathryn Michon from a best-selling novel by W. Bruce Cameron. Director Lasse Hallström uses real animals and limited CGI, so the actors’ interactions with the pets are believable. Read full review
88
ObserverRex ReedFeb 1, 2017
It is without question the best dog movie since "Lassie Come Home." Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsAriel ScottiJan 25, 2017
The film is both heartwarming and soul-shattering. Its theme of an unbreakable bond between man and his best friend is reminiscent of "My Dog Skip," "Homeward Bound" and "Old Yeller." Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJan 26, 2017
Purpose itself 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; a comforting Milk Bone for the soul. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 26, 2017
All I can say is that A Dog’s Purpose left me cherishing my borderline-venerable Skeezix; longing to see Scamp and Fluff and Sukoshi and Sally, the dear departed dogs of my life; and wishing I could have been reincarnated as a better master than I was. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoJan 25, 2017
Between Josh Gad’s charmingly earnest voice-over performance and more of the arthouse gloss that Hallström has drizzled on everything from “The Hundred-Foot Journey” to “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale,” it’s a weepie that can be tough to resist. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckJan 24, 2017
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. Read full review
60
VarietyAndrew BarkerJan 24, 2017
Viewed in a vacuum, 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. Read full review
55
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJan 24, 2017
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 Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Farran Smith NehmeJan 27, 2017
Filmed in the burnished glow that envelops all of Hallström’s American movies, A Dog’s Purpose recycles bits of every animal saga you can name, and practically dares you to make it through with a face of stone. Even a dog movie could use a higher purpose. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshJan 26, 2017
The real problem here, though, is that it's painfully cheesy pablum, relying on hokey burger joint and Friday night football game stereotypes to take the place of character development. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJan 26, 2017
The purpose of A Dog’s Purpose isn’t to solve philosophical riddles but to warm the cockles of dog lovers’ hearts. That, it does — as well as a wet kiss from a slobbery tongue can. Read full review
50
TimeStephanie ZacharekJan 26, 2017
As the film's producers investigate the circumstances of that leaked video, at least there's also evidence of canine joy in A Dog's Purpose, in the form of movie-star mutts chasing their tails and fetching semideflated footballs. That part looks like fun--and when fun is involved, a dog's face doesn't lie. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeJan 25, 2017
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. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 25, 2017
Sure, we get the obligatory slapstick dog-shtick in the form of overturned food carts and disastrous dinner scenes and wacky chases, and there are some uplifting moments — but the overall mood of Lasse Hallstrom’s pup-point-of-view film is … melancholy, sometimes even grim. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 25, 2017
It’s all harmless enough, with the odd lump-in-the-throat moment as another dog meets his or her end. As a lifelong dog owner, I found the going rather grim. Read full review
42
The PlaylistWill AshtonJan 26, 2017
A Dog’s Purpose is an awkward, graceless, meandering and unnecessarily cruel dog movie, and therefore a fairly meaningless one. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 22, 2017
Visually, narratively, every creative choice forks off down the most obvious route. Read full review
40
EmpireOlly RichardsMay 8, 2017
Innately sweet, due to the high number of fluffy animals, but it has the gloopy emotion and silly plotting of a Nicholas Sparks novel. Nicholas Barks, if you will. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonEllie Walker-ArnottMay 2, 2017
It has the power to tug at your heartstrings like a puppy at a postman’s trouser leg. But ultimately its message is muddled and manipulative rather than meaningful. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJan 26, 2017
It’s often cloying, absurdly melodramatic, and the premise exists largely as a tear-manufacturing device. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJan 26, 2017
The film has all the emotional resonance of a dog-themed novelty coffee-table book. Adorable, but ultimately forgettable. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoJan 24, 2017
A Dog's Purpose goes the Collateral Beauty route by preying on sadness and not earning its emotional reactions. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyJan 27, 2017
The tonal weirdness and the philosophical fallacies and the general level of treacle did not sit very well with me. Then again, I have to admit I’m really more of a cat person. Read full review
38
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 27, 2017
A manipulative script about dog reincarnation that whacks your emotions like a piñata – that's forgivable. Not this. It shouldn't happen to a dog. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rebecca TuckerJan 26, 2017
Bailey’s journey through space and time and life and death to reunite with Ethan only seems to reinforce the notion that a dog’s purpose is to be man’s best friend. And we knew that already. Read full review
30
Village VoiceChris PackhamJan 26, 2017
Because we see so much of ourselves in them, it’s nearly impossible not to anthropomorphize dogs. Which the filmmakers know, and exploit in the same way that a dog exploits an unattended burrito on the counter — enthusiastically, with no compunctions and not a thought in its head. Read full review
30
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerJan 25, 2017
You don’t need an animal-rights group’s boycott to give you permission to avoid A Dog’s Purpose. You can skip it just because it’s clumsily manipulative dreck. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubJan 26, 2017
A Dog’s Purpose is peril porn; the animal grows old or faces tragedy and expires over and over, reincarnating into a new dog with the same brain. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineKeith WatsonJan 25, 2017
Lasse Hallström's gooey film exists only to offer comforting reassurances about dogs' natural servility. Read full review
11
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiJan 25, 2017
A misguided and utterly tone-deaf Hallmark card to the canis lupus familiaris and the people who love them. Read full review
0
IndieWireJude DryJan 24, 2017
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. Read full review
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