User reviews

A stray puppy, Bella, is taken in by young man, Lucas. Everything seems to be going fine but Lucas has annoyed a property developer who uses his connections to have Bella impounded. In order for Lucas to prevent Bella from being permanently locked up, Lucas sends her to live with another family over 600 kms away. However, Bella is determined to find her way home.

Sweet, emotional movie about a boy and his dog, told from the dog's perspective. Hardly original - movies like Lassie Come Home (1943) and The Incredible Journey (1963) have covered the central plot before - but it works, very well.

Having the story told from the dog's perspective helps too, as does some delightfully funny scenes. There's a wonderful warmth and engagement to proceedings.

Highly recommended, especially for dog lovers.

Bella is born a stray in the narrow space under an abandoned house. When the rest of her family is impounded she is adopted into a human household. But when she grows up her new family sends her far away from home.

I got a lot more out of this movie than I expected. It was just starting to drag after about a quarter hour but then the dog gets separated and the adventure begins. It reminded me a lot of, 'The Incredible Journey (1963).'

Great for young children. There is a little bit of threat.

I particularly liked, 'Big Kitten.'

My kids have been tracking this movie for weeks and I had promised to bring them all (3 daughters all under 12.)

Yes, this is the same story told again (Homeward Bound and it's various sequels), however it's a little different. The animals are animals, and they don't talk, however the main dog (Bella) does tell the story from her point of view.

There are some areas where they replaced animals with CGI and some of it looks really good, but really fake, but 1- my kids didn't notice all that much, and 2- it's a movie... Let's just turn off our minds for about 2 hours and just watch a wholesome family movie.

There were a number of crying kids, and even some of the adults walked out with some tears, so be prepared.

Overall it's a really cute, adventurous, and fun movie! Perfect no, but it's still great!

All ready to set a dog's adventurous journey to come home. Very nice direction, Great storyline, CGI good, Sound designing very good and last the Bella's performance was tremendous.

It is a sweet and heartwarming dog movie, but the CGI is throwing me off! Therefore it only gets a 6 out of 10! There are better animal movies out there, but it's worth a watch!

Can't believe there would be a negative review on this. Took my 3 year old and she enjoyed the whole thing, as did I. Reviews with any mentioned politics are very closed minded reviewers. This has a well delivered heart warming adventure. Enjoy

The storyline is cute, but certainly not the best story out there. There were so much CGI and it looked so obviously CGI that I couldn't stand it. There were really sweet scenes, and none of them were cringey, so I appreciated that. The ladies in the movie with me LOVED the humor in the story, they laughed, they cried, they oohed and ahhed and awwed... Very sweet.

The pace of the movie could be smoother and better edited... the only way you tell "time" was the season, but it didn't feel like time has passed between the scenes. The acting was great, and kids will obviously love this movie. I really appreciated how the story talked about breed discrimination, or "racism for dogs". Pit bulls are believed to be this vicious, dangerous dogs and the story did a great job showing the sweet side of pitties. LOVE PIT BULLS!!!

I knew what it was going into it and it did not disappoint. I'll take animals over most people any day. I never saw any of the things these other reviews point out. I was entertained. I cried. I laughed. I went home and hugged my two American Staffordshire Terriers very tight. Thank you for this movie.

I personally really enjoyed this movie, especially the concept. Bryce Dallas Howard nails it as the voice of Bella. But let me say that this movie is for older kids ages 8 - 11 because it has some mild violence in it as well as freightening moments which might scare younger children, specifically ages 3 - 5. I recommend this film wether if you're going to see it in theaters or watching it on Redbox.

I usually love dog movies but this movie was not as good as "A dog's purpose" from the same writer, the story is nice, but there are so many dumb jokes and cliches, not to mention the computer generated images that were just horrible to look at. I appreciate that maybe the movie is way more oriented to children that the past one, but at least for me this one is entertaining but totally forgettable.

This movie was one of the best animal movies I have seen. The twists and turns were so real and raw. The acting was great! Bella Aka Shelby was absolutely amazing!!

Saw this with the kids today. They loved it. Soppy, silly, sentimental. Nearly made me cry about 12 times, felt good, really enjoyed it. I guess I'm not that "deep", but if you know you're a sucker for a weepy, dog lovers film, get on it. 7/10 👍

I thought the voice and dialogue of the dog was quite bad.

I must be honest, I didn't really enjoy the first 30 minutes of the film. The animal sound effects were quite bad and I just didn't find anything believable.

The film only started to interest me once the dog was lost, and started his journey home. The film features some good CGI effects, and the scenery was beautiful. In general, this is a very special adventure drama any dog lover will relate to - similar to 'The Incredible Journey'. Beautiful ending.

I believe there are far too many cynics and naysayers in the movie theatres. This was a lovely story, especially if you love dogs, cats, wildlife and human beings. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the characters, portraying our returning Veterans' plight in today's society, and lifestyles of the dog's advocates. Love is love, period. People who felt there was a political agenda are seriously clueless. Get agrip, people.

I usually watch Tarantino style crime films and so this is a radical departure for me. Once and a while I will turn human and watch something nice. As sappy as this film is I still love watching dogs in surroundings that make the humans more human. The acting is wooden, the script totally predictable but even through my cynical eyes I was able to escape for an hour and a half into a talking dogs world, so sue me. I have no children but I can safely recommend this light-hearted feature for those with offspring.

Fun movie, good story, people over thinking it. Great for family (the lack of family movies this is filling a good spot). I took my younger half-sister, she enjoyed herself, I heard both adults and kids laughing, yes there's some serious scenes but it's also that lesson in life about bullies and how people overcome them. There's a single "PC" scene but it didn't bother an ultra-conservative like me because it was done well imo. Good movie, good message. Look at it for what it is, a feel good movie with a great happy ending.

Since getting a dog, I have been much more open to seeing dog related movies. Whether it's Netflix' Dogs series, Hachi: A Dog's Tale, or the follow up to A Dog's Purpose with 'A Dog's Way Home', I enjoy watching our furry little friends' adventures unfold on screen. Luckily, with 'A Dog's Way Home' you never feel too much danger for the lead dog, Bella, so it's a relatively laid back adventure as she makes friends, enemies, and maybe some frenemies on her 400 mile journey back home. Incredibly cheesy and at times very heartwarming, there's enough for most dog-lovers to enjoy, even you can take it or leave it with pretty much every human character.

6.5/10

All i liked is the dog. And the cat. Story is ok, predictable but ok. But the acting is reaaaly bad. I'm talking about the human caracters and the the dog's voice too. I'm not too much of a movie criticist but you just can't see any real emotion in that acting, it's poor, it ruined the whole "feel good" feeling.

It was a nice feel good movie. If you like animals and nature you will like this movie.

I'm old (61) and have seen more than my fair share of these movies. I love dogs, but there's nothing really new here. The vets with PTSD (I'm also a vet) is an angle that the kids won't understand. And the gay interracial couple will also go over the kids' heads (I had to explain it to my wife after we got home. The hints were pretty subtle: hardly any "lifestyle being shoved down anyone's throats.") Ashely Judd, post-facelift plays a hot/weird looking mom (she's 50 in real life). Some haters on here equate her to a liberal BirdBox challenge where just looking at her is supposed to make you want to kill yourself. She was fine with a very bland script. As for the complaints about interracial couple and "token minorities" in Colorado, guess what? There are minorities living in Colorado in real life (my mom lived there for 20 years) whose existence is quite real and independent of any so-called tokenism or message sending haters would ascribe to it.

I love this movie and its very touching and adorable. I think they could have casted a better voice actor for the lead character though. The actress they chose made the movie feel cringy and cheesy at points.