There's been a big controversy over the movie A Dog's Purpose, after footage leaked of a dog being abused on the set. That's frustrating, since it happened with a movie that's all about the love of dogs, and there are supposed to be checks on animal abuse in movies. And you'd think that a hugely pro-dog movie would be particularly conscious of the need to treat their dogs well.
As an animal lover who isn't a dog person, I guess I have an outsider's view of the issue, and I'm amazed at how this film has gone from one extreme of dog lovers' passion to the other. If the ads were any indication, it was relying on dog-loving schmaltz and little else. It seems to be that kind of uplifting movie that I hate: rather than help you to see the world in a better light, it creates a mythology that tells you what you want to hear, like a second-rate new age religion.
Now, that dog spirituality has all been reversed, and you've got to think this whole movie is going to be a financial albatross to the studio; the one constituency that you were relying on now hates you.
My apologies to albatross lovers who may have been offended there.
So I have to wonder if dog lovers feel used. I'm not saying their hurt feelings compare to the injustice done to the dog, but this was a blatant manipulation of their emotions. When it turned out that some on the set were not so committed to the animals after all, that only underlined how people's feelings were just being used for profit.
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