A Dog's Way Home

Wall-to-wall voiceover... Lassie never had to explain herself.

It touches on ongoing problems in modern society such as homelessness and the postwar physical and psychological suffering of soldiers, and on the growing use of animal-based therapy.

There's not much variation on the old themes here. What's new is the film's definition of community and family.

A decent, and very old-fashioned, family film.

Some kids may find the whole affair traumatic, particularly when the poor pooch finds herself dehydrated and chained to a corpse in the wilderness

Cameron's tale grossly oversimplifies complex issues... to the point that it reduces much of the film's social justice message to meme-ready, empty-headed pap.

The film is unapologetically feel-good while unabashedly manipulating your feelings, even though it is hard to knock a film that serves up cats and dogs living peacefully while giving each other endless Eskimo kisses.

A Dog's Way Home has a bit too much filler thrown in to pad out the runtime, and the segments at home feel very detached from the dog's journey back home, but it's a cute and heartwarming story that any dog lover will enjoy.

Predictably, the last act unfolds in full-on heartstrings-tugging mode...

The calculative narrative regurgitates old tropes of Hollywood's canine films...