Dog – An Empty and Hollow Buddy Roadtrip Dramedy (Early Review)

Most people love animals and are willing to do anything for them. They are our companions and our best friends. For as long as there have been film, there have been films that have appealed to that connection between humans and animals. It’s easy to do and continues to be effective as this subgenre continues to find success as that connection only gets stronger. Now it could be argued that these films merely manipulate audiences emotionally, using the same general plot conventions, as a means to distract from their flaws. That being said, they still do a decent job at generating some emotion for the most part but after seeing countless films do the same things countless times, it becomes increasingly harder to care about the next incarnation. Though Dog has a dog, perhaps the biggest culprit in the emotionally-manipulative animal film subgenre. While it did have its moments, seeing its star and co-director Channing Tatum essentially carry the film, they were few and far between. Awkwardly straddling the line between drama and comedy, the film was a well-intentioned mess that rings both hollow and empty.

As mentioned, Dog follows a Belgian Malinois named Lulu and a former Army ranger named Briggs (Tatum) take a trip down the west coast to get to a fellow soldier’s funeral on time. Working together while at war, suffice it to say that a lot has changed since then with Briggs an injured veteran and Lulu a ferocious and short-tempered dog. Each were a handful as they found themselves near the tailend of their careers but life found a way to bring them back together for one last mission to prove that maybe it was not the end for them. Either way, it was certainly going to be a challenge as they unsurprisingly did not get off to the best start. Their resulting trajectory also shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise to anyone. A coming-of-age story of sorts, Briggs and Lulu got to know each other again through a series of hijinks involving the various eccentric characters they met along the way.

Meanwhile, Dog attempted to ground those hijinks in deeper themes of grief, PTSD, and the treatment of veterans but all of those themes merely ring hollow alongside the rest of the film that surrounded it. While those wholesome moments were certainly the best part of the film, it’s not like they haven’t been done before. It just felt like the story and script were put together in a way to elicit as much emotion as possible with the least amount of effort. Though the film as a whole will surely still succeed with a large portion of audiences, some will simply see through its contrived and mediocre exterior. The film definitely has heart, however, those flaws are hard to ignore. Its ultimate success will depend on whether audiences can ignore those flaws that are likely to keep it from standing out and having any staying power.

At the end of the day, what keeps Dog afloat was Tatum’s charming performance as Briggs. Being the only major human character in the film, it is just him but despite that, he does a decent job at carrying it. He was still somewhat compelling to watch, bringing more depth than was there on the page. Behind his charming demeanor, there was pain there. However, the film failed to tap into that in enough of a satisfying way by seemingly favoring Briggs’s relationship with Lulu. Because of the title, it makes sense to put the dog character in the forefront, the film needed more depth if not more balance between both characters. Though most audiences will be watching for the dog, a more well-rounded story would have made for a more compelling watch.

Good girl Lulu, good girl.

 still courtesy of Elevation Pictures

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.