Even with few surprises A Dog’s Journey satisfies.
The characters are often rather shallow and predictable particularly Betty Gilipin as the daughter-in-law who keeps CJ (Kathryn Prescott) away from her grandparents who are played by Marg Helgenberger and Dennis Quaid. She is an empty parent who drinks, spends her daughter’s inheritance and spends her evenings away from her little girl who is made secure by a dog.
The conclusions for each family member are projected clearly from the beginning. This is not a smart script.
What keeps the film on track and entertaining is the voice work by Josh Gad and the attractive line of dogs (all very different breads) who fill the lives of Quaid and grand daughter CJ.
There is a bit of romance near the end of the story, but that was obvious at the fist meeting of two of the characters.
Even with the limited script, A Dog’s Journey is filled with enjoyable situation and the interesting vocabulary of the dogs.
When the dog’s jump trick is performed late in the film we know the journey, without complexity or twists is worth following.