If you are one who is prone to crying when the dog dies in a movie, be prepared. This heartbreaking occurrence happens too many times and seems to be the premise of the film, “A Dog’s Purpose.”

For any dog lover, it is easy to fall in love with the connection between a dog and his human. This movie will give you that feeling countless times. The dog(s), voiced by Josh Gad, is extremely lovable, and his strong instinct of loyalty definitely pulls at the heart strings

The cinematography delivers breathtaking countryside scenery and the audience will enjoy themselves as they get to follow the dog through different decades as he searches for his purpose.

Although the human characters are likable, the acting delivered wasn’t captivating enough to warrant much excitement. There was a noticeable lack of chemistry between the actors that was hard to ignore. There are many touching moments and the audience is able to feel emotionally invested in the dog, but it pretty much ends there.

A week before the movie’s premiere TMZ released the floodgates of outcry by leaking a video that was captured on set of one stunt dog, who appeared to be scared, refusing to be submerged into raging waters. The video quickly raised ethical questions on humane treatment of animals in the movie industry.

The video got the attention of PETA, who called for a boycott on the film, ultimately leading to the cancellation of the movie’s premiere. The premiere instead was replaced by PETA protesters at the Hollywood Theater holding signs like, “For dog sakes don’t see this movie!” and “A dog’s purpose isn’t to be your prop!”

Such heavy protesting has brought the moral dilemma on whether or not you should see this movie. And a lot of people are choosing not to.

The controversial scene, in which the dog jumps into the rampant waters, lacked the theatrics it had intended to convey. Instead of using the rich storyline from the book, they decided to write in the stunt, and negate the rich story line from book.

This decision not only hurt the quality of the movie, but was detrimental to the movie’s success. Now the industry and its use of animal actors will be under close watch from animal rights groups.  

Aside from all the protest, there are still people who are interested in seeing this movie. The appeal is there for anyone who fell in love with the book or are a sucker for anything dog related.

If you loved the book, then wait till you can stream it online, so you and your canine companion can watch it and be disappointed together. If you like a good tear jerker, then this movie is for you, and don’t forget to bring the tissues.