function onPlayerReadyVidible(e){'undefined'!=typeof HPTrack&&HPTrack.Vid.Vidible_track(e)}!function(e,i){if(e.vdb_Player){if('object'==typeof commercial_video){var a='',o='m.fwsitesection='+commercial_video.site_and_category;if(a+=o,commercial_video['package']){var c='&m.fwkeyvalues=sponsorship%3D'+commercial_video['package'];a+=c}e.setAttribute('vdb_params',a)}i(e.vdb_Player)}else{var t=arguments.callee;setTimeout(function(){t(e,i)},0)}}(document.getElementById('vidible_1'),onPlayerReadyVidible); Puppies, growing up, the too-short cycle of canine life: all elements of a classic tearjerkerand A Dogs Purpose, out on Friday, incorporated them all.Yet controversy erupted when a video leaked just over a week before the films release, calling into question the treatment of animals during filming. The clip, which appeared to show a frightened German Shepherd forcibly put into rushing water, led to outcry from PETA and actor Josh Gad, who voiced the canine stars. The films trainers responded by claiming the leaked video was misleading and falsely edited, and star Dennis Quaid reported that he saw no abuse of animals on set.Due to the controversy, Universal Pictures canceled the films premiereand much of its promotional press. It remains to be seen just how the situation could hurt the films weekend box-office chancesthe Los Angeles Times reports that on Thursday, estimates for its opening weekend hovered around $20 million, a 20 percent drop from earlier numbers. Plus, its Rotten Tomatoes ratingat press time was a mere 30 percent.Lets see how the reviews stack up amid the controversy.In a review for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers admits that the film will get people crying, thanks to the many dog death scenes that allow one pups soul to be reincarnated in several animals, eventually landing in a mutt that finds his original owner (Quaid) once more. (Which begs the questionwas his doggy soul only born when the younger version of Quaids character got him' Shouldnt this soul be very, very old') Yet Travers cant get the image of the German Shepherd struggling in the water out of his head. A manipulative script about dog reincarnation that whacks your emotions like a piatathats forgivable. Not this, he writes.Varietys Andrew Barker is quick to mention the leaked video in his review, writing that the film could work as cinematic warm blanket for audiences, offering sweet depictions of loyal pooches and nonpartisan morals. Still, he cautionsthis only works with the audiences goodwill, one that is currently in short supply. He muses on the affect of canine reincarnation on young viewers whove gone through the death of a beloved companionImagine if they insisted on finding the reincarnation of their former pet'but ultimately decides that viewed in a vacuum, its hard to fault the movies earnestness.Over at People, Tom Gliatto decides this dumb, sweet, indulgently weepy movie isnt a doggone disaster after allthough he criticizes Gads faux-naf boyishness and puppyish pep in his voice acting and admits that hed seen a screening before the leaked video surfaced. If you arrive at the movie with a mental image of Hercules slipping into that pool, he concludes, you might be less emotionally enthralled to watch the movies dog, in his incarnation as a German-Shepherd police dog, heroically swim through dangerous waters.Had A Dogs Purpose come and gone without the leaked footage tainting the purely puppy goodness depicted on screen, it wouldnt have left a scratch on reviewers consciouses. Yet it looks like, for such a sweetly unchallenging film, its hard to separate fiction from surprise video footage.A Dogs Purpose is in theaters now. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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