REVIEW
Dog
Stars: 3.0
Starring Channing Tatum, Jane Adams, Kevin Nash, Q'orianka Kilcher, Ethan Suplee, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Ronnie Gene Blevins, and Bill Burr
Written by Reid Carolin
Directed by Reid Carolin and Channing Tatum
Rated: PG for coarse language, violence, and substance use
Runtime: 101 minutes
Now playing at Landmark Cinemas 8 and Cineplex North Edmonton
As odd couple/buddy movies go, you would be hard pressed to start with better elements than Channing Tatum and an adorable Belgian Malinois dog named Lulu. They’re both pretty darned likeable already, right? Put them on a road trip and you’ve got a movie that’s pure joy, guaranteed.
But wait … what if Tatum was an Army Ranger dealing with a brain injury, and the dog is a working dog that is mourning the death of her handler. Tatum, desperate to get back into active service, takes the friendly assignment of transporting Lulu from Washington to Arizona for the funeral.
Also, Lulu is vicious and doesn’t take to anyone besides her handler. Now we’ve got a conflict that can propel a story.
Welcome to the premise of Dog, wherein Tatum as Jackson Briggs finds himself in the precarious position. One can almost smell the life lessons about to be learned in this soulful comedy-drama that doesn’t mince much with its hints about the traumas suffered by soldiers, and that includes service animals. Lulu is considered a Ranger, too, and she has been very well-trained to do her job.
Tatum not only starred in this film, but it also works as his first directing credit, a role he shared with writer Reid Carolin.
As a film, Dog is practically a one-trick pony: Tatum uses his natural southern charms against a dog who is Tatum-proof. Naturally, they have to learn to get along and heal each other’s wounds. That’s not a spoiler: you should have known how this movie was going to end before it even started. Still, it’s an hour-and-a-half of some fun, some awkwardness watching the mismatched pair have their cross-country misadventures before they successfully land at their destination.
It's worth a watch, though it does get off-track at points. Road-trip movies frequently involve misadventures with the wacky cast of characters they meet along the way, but it detracts from the plot. We wanted more dog and more Tatum, and fewer new age-y character foils they must encounter to really highlight how "army" Tatum is. Honestly, I could've done with 90 straight minutes of a two-hander with the two of them stuck in the vehicle traveling 1,000 miles. That might've been the dramedy gold we were looking for. What we got had hints of this, but left this critic wanting more.
