A Dog's Journey

I didn't know that there was going to be a sequel to "a dog's purpose." And the end was result was a big surprise. I thoroughly enjoyed this from beginning to end a lot more than I enjoyed it's predecessor from 2017. I was quite pleased. Our likable protagonists (Ethan played by Dennis Quaid and Hannah played by Marg Helgenberger) are back, and they are now seniors. Now, the new characters are introduced; a likable young girl named CJ and a likable young man named Trent. In the first act, there were some despicable stereotypes; and these two jerks are alcoholics. A widowed mother named Gloria (Betty Gilpin), and a threatening criminal named Shane (Jake Manley). Josh Gad as the narrator/soul/Bailey/different dog? We'll get to that in a moment. Anyways, The premise of this sequel has a real plot; CJ has been taken to her house because of Gloria, Gloria is CJ's mother who was a negative influence. Ethan gives Bailey a promise to take care of CJ by protecting her, so It's up to Bailey to keep Ethan's promise, find CJ, and protect her from any person that is not welcome. The producer (Gavin Polone) is back, and so are the writers (Wallace Wolodarsky, Maya Forbes, and W. Bruce Cameron). But there is a different director: Gail Mancuso. Her direction is very clever; she did a very good job at giving the script some effective structure and her direction throughout the film played with my emotions like a piano. Thanks to her direction, the entertainment value contains an effective palette of different moods: witty or amusing (Josh Gad's voice delivery and Bailey's antics), disgusting (the characterization of Gloria), sad or dramatic (some sad scenes that I am not going to spoil), shocking (a high speed car chase), and surprising in a pleasant manner (a big plot twist involving Gloria). The acting/performances from the cast is superb; they have added credibility to their characterizations to make their characters feel like they are realistic and convincing. And let's not forget that the dialogue is on par with the performances. Gail even improved the storyline for this sequel, because she is staying focused onto the storytelling and move the story forward, however, this sequel obviously has to have this weird and questionable concept: a Josh Gad's narration as the spirit within a different dog breed, but the latter (occurring nearer to the end of a story) reveals the answer to the question that I wanted to know. And CJ says that "it's impossible but it's true." My response is "Okay, that's the answer? well, that's still odd but I will accept it anyway because this is fictional after all." In conclusion: This enjoyable sequel is an improvement on it's predecessor; it's storyline is more cohesive and does not lack any focus, the answer to the question about the voice over for Bailey is revealed, it's fully aware of stereotyping, and the entertainment value is higher and more persistent. Highly Recommended. Suitable for ages 11+

It made me cry everything he died and came back I have the first one and second and love it watch it 15 times never gets old loveing dog that has many different lives my favorite was the big big dog sooooo cute

A Dog's Journey is the worst sequel I've ever seen in my life.