A DOG’S PURPOSE (PG, 100 mins)
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Stars: Josh Gad, Dennis Quaid, Britt Robertson
Adapted from a bestselling novel by W Bruce Cameron, Lasse Hallstrom’s sentimental, all-American, melodrama tell us that every time a pooch dies its soul and memories are transferred to a newborn puppy.
The voice in its head is passed on, too, which means that even though the dog in the film has several incarnations its cutesily naive thoughts are always narrated by Josh Gad, sounding exactly as he did when he was Olaf the snowman in Frozen.
In the first half of A Dog’s Purpose the canine hero is raised by a schoolboy and his hard-drinking salesman father in the 1960s. After that, it is reborn as a police dog in 1970s Chicago.
Then it’s a student’s sole companion in the 1980s and finally it belongs to a gruff farmer played by Dennis Quaid.
The problem which, ahem, dogs the film is that while the loyal hound is naturally devoted to each of its owners, they never really interest the rest of us.
They’re ordinary people with hackneyed, sanitised, stories and the fact that they happen to have a furry pal in the house doesn’t make them any less dull. The repeated doggy deaths may put off young viewers, too.
So what’s the point of A Dog’s Purpose? As the title implies, Gadd’s voiceover keeps posing questions about the meaning of life so you might hope for some profound insights to compensate for the mushy narrative.
Despite living and dying numerous times, the best our four-legged philosopher (and the five screenwriters) can offer is that loneliness is bad and fun is good. Dog owners may be charmed but they’re also bound to feel that their own pet has more personality than the one on the screen.
UNLOCKED (15, 98 mins)
Director: Michael Apted
Stars: Noomi Rapace, Orlando Bloom, Michael Douglas, John Malkovich
Don’t be fooled by the stellar cast of Unlocked. Every one of them may have starred in an award-winning blockbuster in their time but Michael Apted’s muddled film is the kind of derivative, bargain-basement London-based spy thriller that is normally stocked with escapees from EastEnders.
Noomi Rapace is convincingly tough but wholly uncharismatic as a Swedish-accented CIA agent who specialises in interrogating Islamic terrorist suspects.
Her latest assignment is to “unlock” a courier who has just been arrested. But when the job goes pear-shaped she is forced to run, Bourne-style, from her own former colleagues.
Among the associates who may be friends or foes are her mentor (Michael Douglas), a cockney Afghan-war veteran (Orlando Bloom) and an MI5 liaison (Toni Collette).
John Malkovich enjoys hamming it up as her exasperated boss. Everybody else is taking this silly pot-boiler far too seriously.
VERDICT: 1/5
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