I was left forever scarred on an otherwise uneventful day in the early 90s. Our science teacher had just told us about space exploration and a little Russian mutt, Laika.
In fiction or in factual realms, there’s nothing more sentimental than the death of a dog.
A Dog’s purpose, Lasse Hallström’s third outing with dogs, plays on the same emotion. Not once, not twice but four times over! Despite having everything the family movie template calls for this maudlin story doesn’t quite take off with the Frisbee like say, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale.
A Dog’s Purpose Movie Review
Based upon the bestseller of the same name, A Dog’s Purpose, is told from the perspective of Bailey (voiced by Josh Gad), a dog who is reborn five times over to discover his purpose. However, the one life he seems to be hung up on is the one with a boy named Ethan who lovingly calls him ‘Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey’ as they roam in pristine countryside.
The cruel hands of fate (in our case, of course the screenwriter) lead us from one dog death to the other. But Bailey keeps coming back, reborn repeatedly into different bodies and genders, retaining his consciousness and memories from past lives. And it is through this reincarnation cycle that Bailey encounters many humans, some good, some grey and some downright bad as he realizes his true calling.
The screenplay is steeped with deaths that we know are coming, that we are told of long before they unfold. These deaths, grim fleeting glimpses, relate to all those who have ever lost a pet.
The movie certainly has its moments especially when Bailey turns a tad philosophic, consider this:
“Humans do things dogs don’t understand. Like leave.”
Isn’t this the way of things, with life as with love, we move on? One moment we have held close all that runs deep in-breath and blood and the next upon dissection — by death or other devices, we are pottering about our errands as usual.
Dogs are different.
Also See: The legend of Red Dog
They don’t know this concept of moving on. Think of Hachiko, what made him wait for close to a decade? Till death. Our concept of practicality may steer as far as it can but deep down isn’t this the idea of love we look out for in fiction?
“What is the meaning of life? Are we here for a reason? Is there a point to anything?”, ponders Bailey all through the reel.
Meanwhile, the dogs keep on dying. Before we are done grieving for one, the movie takes us the right to another puppy and another death. The death of the third dog, in particular, a police dog named Ellie, who falls fatally to a bullet shot as she valiantly saves her owner’s life, leaves you looking for tissue papers.
The movie presents a distinctive take on reincarnation, told from a dog’s perspective, which shapes its unique narrative style. As Bailey moves through different lives, she encounters various people and situations, offering insight into the many ways humans connect with their pets. This storytelling method highlights the deep bond between dogs and their owners while encouraging reflection on themes like loyalty, life’s purpose, and the fleeting nature of existence. Some viewers may feel that the film’s attempt at delivering deep philosophical messages can sometimes come across as overstated, slightly detracting from its emotional core.
Over half a century and nearly as many incarnations, Bailey learns what he calls a dog’s purpose:
- “Have fun!”
- “Save the ones you can save”
- “Lick the ones you love”
- “Just be here now”
One of the very first sights that greet you at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport is the ‘Welcome to my hometown‘ photo exhibition. Lively portraits of Ingmar Bergman, Björn Borg, Alfred Noble and other distinguished Swedes welcoming you to Sweden. Keep walking and you’d come across the black and white image of Lasse Hallström, the director of ABBA videos, Cider House Rules, and My Life as a dog. He may have stumbled with A Dog’s Purpose but I hope he makes a dog movie again and like at the airport wall, stays perched atop the dog directors of Hollywood.
For now, perhaps the best that this movie does is to provide parents with an idea to comfort children traumatized by the death of pets in life or in movies, “See, Bailey didn’t die. Dogs never die. They are reborn, like other dogs, and they live happily ever after with their humans.”
Part of our guide to the best dog movies.
A Dog’s Purpose: quick facts
- Released: 27 January 2017
- Director: Lasse Hallström
- Based on: A Dog’s Purpose (2010), the novel by W. Bruce Cameron
- Voice of Bailey: Josh Gad
- Also starring: Dennis Quaid, Britt Robertson, KJ Apa, Peggy Lipton
- Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Sequel: A Dog’s Journey (2019)
How many lives does Bailey live, and as which dogs?
People search this more than any other detail about the film, and most pages get the count wrong because the opening puppy is easy to miss.
Bailey lives five lives:
- An unnamed red puppy, a short first life that ends almost before it starts.
- Bailey, a Golden Retriever, Ethan’s dog and the life the whole film keeps returning to.
- Ellie, a German Shepherd police K9, who dies taking a bullet for her handler.
- Tino, a Welsh Corgi, who spends a quiet life with a lonely college student.
- Buddy, a St. Bernard–Australian Shepherd mix, who finds his way back to a grown-up Ethan.
Bailey returns as a female twice. The film treats the soul as continuous and the body as incidental, which is the single most interesting idea in it and the one it spends the least time on.
A Dog’s Purpose ending, explained
Spoilers from here.
Buddy, the fifth dog, is adopted by a man who abandons him. He finds his way to a farm and to Ethan, now in his sixties and alone. Ethan doesn’t recognise him. Buddy then does the three things only Bailey ever did: he retrieves the old Frisbee, he performs the nose-nudge trick, and he answers to the full name, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey. Ethan understands.
Buddy also steers Ethan back to Hannah, the woman he lost decades earlier, and the two marry.
The purpose Bailey lands on, after five lifetimes of asking, is deliberately small: be here now, have fun, save who you can, lick the ones you love. The film’s answer to “what is the meaning of life” is that the question is a human one. The dog was never confused.
Does the dog die in A Dog’s Purpose?
Yes. Four times, on screen, and the film tells you each one is coming before it arrives.
This is the question parents search most, usually at eleven at night with a child asking to watch it. The honest answer: the deaths are not graphic, but they are frequent and they are the point of the structure. Ellie’s death, shot on duty, is the hardest. If your child has recently lost a pet, this is not the film for this month. If the loss is further back, the reincarnation frame is genuinely the kindest one mainstream cinema has offered them.
The on-set video, and what the investigation actually found
This matters more on this site than on any other page reviewing this film, so here is the full sequence rather than the headline.
Days before release in January 2017, TMZ published an edited video that appeared to show a German Shepherd being forced into rushing water and, in a later clip, going under. PETA called for a boycott. The premiere was cancelled.
American Humane commissioned an independent investigation, led by an outside animal-cruelty expert who reviewed the unedited footage and interviewed people who were on set. It concluded that the video had been deliberately edited to mislead, that no animals were harmed in those scenes, and that the dog was never forced into the water — the shoot was stopped when the dog showed stress. The report was not a clean bill of health: it also found the dog’s stress signals should have been recognised sooner.
Both things are true, and dog people deserve both. The film was not the cruelty video it was sold as. The set was also not as attentive as it should have been. Dennis Quaid has since called the episode a scam; PETA disputed the findings. The useful takeaway isn’t which side won. It’s that an edited minute of footage nearly buried a film, and that “no animals were harmed” is a real process with real gaps in it.
Sources: American Humane’s report, CNN, Deadline.
Where to watch A Dog’s Purpose in India
Thinner than you would expect for a film this well known. As of August 2026 it is on one subscription service in India, FilmBox+. It is not on Netflix India, not on Prime Video, and not on JioHotstar.
Streaming rights on catalogue titles move often, so check JustWatch India before you plan an evening around it. One warning if you do: the Prime Video row on that page is an advert, not a listing. It says “watch similar movies”, which is not the same as having this one.
Frequently asked questions
Is A Dog’s Purpose based on a true story?
No. It’s adapted from W. Bruce Cameron’s 2010 novel. The reincarnation premise is invention.
Is there a sequel?
A Dog’s Journey (2019) follows Bailey through further lives around Ethan’s granddaughter, CJ. There is also A Dog’s Way Home (2019), a different Cameron adaptation that is frequently confused with it.
What breed is Bailey?
Golden Retriever in the central life. Across the five lives: red puppy, Golden Retriever, German Shepherd, Welsh Corgi, St. Bernard–Australian Shepherd mix.
Should I watch this or Hachi?
Hachi, if you want the better film. This one, if you want the one that ends with the dog coming home.
I lost my pet, Chikoo, in April. And, suffice to say, it’s been a painful time, these past days.
I keep thinking that he has just gone away somewhere and he will be back soon, but, the ‘soon’ doesn’t come…will never come! 🙁
I can only be grateful that he lived with me and taught me so much. I now hold on to our memories together and pray he is there somewhere around me. Living a life without him is not going to be easy, but that’s what happens when you lose a dog, isn’t it?
Loved your review, Abhishek!
Congrats for the SS picks!