A Dog's Way Home

A Dog's Way Home is a 2019 family adventure film directed by Charles Martin Smith from a screenplay by W. Bruce Cameron and Cathryn Michon, based on the 2017 book of the same name by Cameron. The film stars Ashley Judd, Edward James Olmos, Alexandra Shipp, Wes Studi, Chris Bauer, Barry Watson, and Jonah Hauer-King, and follows a dog named Bella (voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard) who travels more than 400 miles to find her owner. It was released in the United States on January 11, 2019, to mixed reviews from critics, and has grossed $80 million worldwide, making it a moderate box office success.

Plot
Lucas and his girlfriend Olivia, two residents of Denver, Colorado, find a puppy in a construction site along with many kittens and a mother cat. He names the dog Bella and takes her home to live with him and his mother. Lucas continues to feed the cats at the old house, which puts him in the crosshairs of Gunter Beckenbauer, the man who wants to demolish the house. He even calls the city about the cats who live there, which delays the demolition. To get revenge, Gunter arranges for Bella to be declared a pit bull, because Denver has outlawed pitbulls as a dangerous breed.

When Bella is eventually captured, Lucas picks her up, pays a fine, and is allowed to take her home. However, he is warned that if Bella is picked up again, she will be put down. To avoid this, Lucas sends Bella to live with Olivia's aunt and uncle in Farmington, New Mexico, until he and his mother can find another home outside of Denver's urban limits. However, Bella misses Lucas so much that she leaves Farmington and begins a 400-mile journey home, which will take more than two years to complete. She encounters a pack of coyotes, befriends a cougar cub, and helps rescue a man buried in an avalanche during her journey. At each place she goes, she learns that each of her new friends has its own home, and how she must keep moving to get back to her family.

Cast

 * Jonah Hauer-King as Lucas
 * Ashley Judd as Terri
 * Edward James Olmos as Axel
 * Alexandra Shipp as Olivia
 * Shelby as Bella
 * Bryce Dallas Howard as the voice of Bella
 * John Cassini as Chuck
 * Wes Studi as Captain Mica
 * Brian Markinson as Günter Beckenbauer
 * Barry Watson as Gavin
 * Tammy Gillis as Officer Leon

Production
On November 7, 2017, Ashley Judd, Edward James Olmos and several others were cast in the film. On January 24, 2018, Barry Watson was added to play Gavin. Filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia on October 16, 2017, lasting through December 15.

Release
The film was released in the United States on January 11, 2019 by Sony Pictures, and was released in January 25, 2019 in the United Kingdom.

Sony spent $18.8 million on promotion and advertisement for the film.

Box office
A Dog's Way Home has grossed $41.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $38.3 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $80.2 million, against a production budget of $18 million.

In the United States and Canada, A Dog's Way Home was released alongside the openings of Replicas and The Upside, as well as the wide expansion of On the Basis of Sex, and was projected to gross $9–10 million from 3,090 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $3.3 million on its first day, including $535,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $11.3 million, finishing third at the box office, behind The Upside and holdover Aquaman. In its second weekend the film made $7.1 million, finishing sixth.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 61% based on 72 reviews with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads "A Dog's Way Home may not quite be a family-friendly animal drama fan's best friend, but this canine adventure is no less heartwarming for its familiarity." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 50 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly called the film "Heartwarming, mildly funny, and occasionally thrilling without ever being anything more than just fine." Tomris Laffly writing for RogerEbert.com called it “a good dog movie with its heart in the right place" and gave it 3 out of 4 stars. Courtney Howard of Variety writes "For every shameless trick the filmmakers employ to pluck our heartstrings, resonant chords are struck elsewhere, teaching audiences about family, the power of unconditional love, and the ripple effects of compassion."