“And I was his dog.”

From A Dog’s Way Home.

Born under the ruins of an old house, the puppy Bella (voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard) is surrounded by love from her mother and a family of stray cats, but when the property owner (Brian Markinson) calls animal control to clear out his property, the animals are scattered.  When Lucas (Jonah Hauer-King) makes his normal visit to the rundown property to feed the cats, he finds all-alone Bella and takes her home as a pet and sorta-therapy dog for his veteran mother (Ashley Judd).  As Bella grows into a sweet, loving dog, she gets to experience all kinds of fun things like snow, walks, cheese, and sneaking into work with Lucas.  However, their carefree life is soon cut short when an animal control officer (John Cassini) informs Lucas that the mixed-breed Bella is a pit bull and illegal in the city of Denver and subject to impoundment if found off their property, so in an attempt to keep Bella safe, they send her to temporarily stay with the family of Lucas’ girlfriend (Alexandra Shipp).  Hundreds of miles from home, the confused Bella is sure of only thing: that she needs to go home; so she escapes from the family’s backyard and begins the long journey home to Lucas.  While her trip will take her across state lines and through dangerous forests, Bella’s trip will also introduce her to friends, both human and animal, that help her find her way back to Lucas.

An adaptation of W. Bruce Cameron’s book of the same name, this movie is a touching, heart-breaking (but thankfully not as much as 2017’s A Dog’s Purpose), and inspiring look at the special bond between man and dog.  With Howard’s voice acting carrying most of the weight for this film, the “human” cast unfortunately seems to drift into the background at times despite being played by talented actors.  While it struggles a bit with the computer animation of certain animals/scenes, A Dog’s Way Home is a sweet story for dog lovers everywhere to enjoy.

| Rated: PG | Running Time: 97 minutes |Genre: drama/adventure |

||Family Viewing||Cursing: 1 of 10|Nudity: 0 of 10|Sexuality: 0 of 10|Gore: 2 of 10

|AVAILABLE FOR HOME VIEWING|