DOG

Dog is too slickly made and innocuous to take a genuine dislike to, but the film’s strange goofiness doesn’t exactly work in its favour.

Walking into Dog I was expecting your general uplifting Hollywood tale about a man taking care of a canine who in the end realises it's the canine that's taking care of him. And to some extent, that is what you get in Dog, even if finale isn't nearly as heart-tugging as it wants to be.

What I didn't expect was a movie that is so goofy that some parts of it play like excerpts from a Naked Gun film, and I don't necessarily mean that as a compliment. Because even if star Channing Tatum, who also makes a pretty confident debut behind the camera on this film, has enough comedic chops to sell the intended humour, most of the situations he and Lulu - the Malinois military dog he is escorting to the funeral of her former owner - end up in smack of either laziness or lack of inspiration.

Case in point: if a mere 30 minutes into a 105-minute film you feel the need to have your leads haphazardly stumble upon a weed farm, you clearly are jumping the shark. Dog is too slickly made and innocuous to take a genuine dislike to but if you're looking for a truly pleasing tearjerker, look elsewhere.

release: 2022

director: Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin

starring: Channing Tatum, Ryder McLaughlin, Aavi Haas, Luke Forbes