Clip It: Each day, Jon Davis looks at the world of trailers, featurettes, and clips and puts it all in perspective.
I almost had to remove myself from the A Dog's Purpose trailer because the trailer starts with a perfect boy and dog relationship (as told to us by Josh Gad, the voice of the dog) and then the dog gets old and passes away. And I'm thinking, don't do this to me! First of all, my beloved little buddy Wally passed away only a few weeks ago and I'm still missing him. Second of all, I don't like seeing dogs dying. You're just reminding me that these creatures don't have the lifespan that we all want them to, and now I'm going to turn into a puddle of goo from all the sadness.
But. BUT! In this story, the dog is reincarnated. And so he finds a new owner, and then another one after that, and they're all happy people who know how to raise a dog properly, so I'm not bummed. And then – fantasy of all fantasies for dog lovers – he returns (as a new dog) to his his first dog owner, no longer a boy but an older man, Dennis Quaid, doing his lovable, grumpy Dennis Quaid thing.
I can get behind this. Is there any animal better than a dog? What's not to like? Even when Wally was not well trained, I'd remind him, “Look, your only job is to be adorable, let me handle the rest.” And he figured it out. Come back Wally! I just don't want to watch another dog pass away again. Don't do that to us, movies!