REVIEW: A Dog’s Way Home wags its tale fetchingly at the canine-inclined

A Dog’s Way Home is one of those movies where one pooch must travel solo for many thousands of kilometres to be reunited with their rightful owner. You know the drill, dog lovers.

Bella (Shelby) in Columbia Pictures' A Dog’s Way Home.

This here’s one of those movies where one dog must travel solo for many thousands of kilometres to be reunited with their rightful owner.

While this type of fare is so old-fashioned it should be heritage-listed, it rarely fails to draw the full emotional involvement of any viewer predisposed to pooches.

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Lucas(Jonah Hauer King), Bella (Shelby) and Terri (Ashley Judd) in Columbia Pictures' A Dog’s Way Home.

Therefore, A Dog’s Way Home and its depiction of an epic long-distance trek of a make-do mutt named Bella (whose many thoughts are articulated in the voice of Jurassic World star Bryce Dallas Howard) will captivate canine enthusiasts from beginning to end.

After an affable opening act establishing the star’s undeniable adorability, Bella is banished far from her idyllic home by mean city-council types. Her crime? Having a bit too much pit-bull in her pedigree.

Bella tries to go with the flow, but the enforced separation from her young human owner (Jonah Hauer-King) and his Afghan War veteran mother (Ashley Judd) just does not sit well with her.

The small matter of several state borders to be crossed and much harsh terrain to be navigated is not going to stop a determined dog like Bella. No way. Not even if it takes her a few years. Which it will.

Younger viewers in particular will enthused by Bella’s many antics (she loves chasing squirrels, chewing sneakers and swiping steaks) and adventures (which include surviving an avalanche, staring down a pack of wolves, and becoming best buds with a cougar).

A DOG’S WAY HOME (PG)

Rating: Two and a half stars (2.5 out of 5)

Director: Charles Martin Smith (Dolphin Tale)

Starring: Ashley Judd, Jonah Hauer-King and the voice of Bryce Dallas Howard.

Off the leash and on an odyssey