DOG GONE MOVIE REVIEW

Dog gone movie review & movie summary (2023)

In "dog gone," Rob Lowe plays a businessman who joins his son to search the Appalachian path for a misplaced dog. At one point, he describes his expertise as making "predictive assumptions."

It does no longer take much information to make the predictive assumption that this movie, a heartwarming fact-based totally tale of John Marshall and his son, Fielding (Johnny Berchtold) reconciling to discover a beloved pet, can have some candy dog-bonding montages to indie song (Freebridge, VANYO, easy Tiger), human and dog fitness crises and tender moments of connection, a little comic alleviation, pictures of the filmmakers hugging their very own dogs over the quit credit, and a few happy tears from the target market.

The film is based on a ebook of the equal call with the aid of journalist Pauls Toutonghi, son-in-law of John Marshall and brother-in-regulation of Fielding. The screenplay via Nick Santora skillfully smooths out the tale, with robust manipulate of tone by director Stephen Herek, a exceptional rating by means of Emily bear, and cinematographer Michael Martinez making the best feasible use of the stunning Georgia panorama that stands in for a Virginia placing.

Fielding is a senior in college when he comes to a decision to remedy a damaged coronary heart by using going to the pound, wherein he instantly falls in love with a beautiful, cream-coloured puppy he names Gonker. They have a joyful school yr together until Fielding realizes the day earlier than commencement that everyone else in his magnificence has a good activity coated up, whilst he's still seeking to discern out what form of job he can do.

After missing commencement, because he and Gonker overslept, Fielding movements again home.

John is crisp, targeted, expert, and now and again sarcastic. "i am certain it is well worth the six-hour spherical trip just to look four,000 strangers dressed inside the identical outfit," he says when Fielding shows up after the rite. He tells Fielding he does no longer have the time or duty for a puppy, and while Fielding insists, John tries to put Gonker in a shock collar to preserve him from leaving their assets.

Fielding does yoga and likes to wander round the outdoors. He wears shorts and a shell necklace. He turns down his father's offers to set him up for task interviews. He is devastated while he overhears his father describing the contrast between them. "I constantly knew he changed into disappointed in me, but this time he regarded embarrassed," he admits. Meanwhile, he does no longer inform all and sundry approximately some troubling signs he's experiencing.

At the Appalachian path, Fielding and his great buddy Nate (the endearingly wry Nick Peine of "A.P. Bio") let Gonker run after a fox and they end up separated. John drops everything and promises they will discover Gonker and produce him home.

Fielding's mother, Ginny (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), units up a command center at the house with fax machines and get in touch with books ("i'm analog!" she says), fliers, and one of these maps with red yarn connecting the diverse locations. For morale, she posts a "hero listing" of all the humans supporting. The hunt is specifically pressing due to the fact there are handiest 19 days until Gonker should have medicinal drug for Addison's ailment.

As aww-inspiring because the human and canine moments within the movie are, it's miles the human encounters along the quest which are the heart of the movie. For Ginny, assisting to locate Gonker is a manner to help remedy the ache she nevertheless feels over the Akita she misplaced as a toddler.

For John and Fielding, it's far a way to examine what they ought to research from one another, to discover what they've in not unusual, partly via the encounters they have alongside the manner.

Over and over again, they get sudden assist from humans they might by no means otherwise meet, from a person at a gas station who sells them a figure of the purchaser saint of misplaced souls to a collection of bikers and a sympathetic reporter, many who also have dogs they love.

John and Ginny exhibit what "hard paintings and calculated, deliberate choices"—and the form of assets that pay for a big residence and allow the circle of relatives to take a month off—can accomplish. Maximum crucial, because it usually is, is what John communicates actually by being there, displaying Fielding what responsibility and commitment manner to a father. "You worry approximately Gonker because you adore him, and he is lost. That is why I worry approximately you."

Lowe, who additionally produced, is ideally solid as a person who loves his son despite the fact that he does no longer completely apprehend him. He brings a few low-key sardonic humor to the tale, specially whilst he's breaking a rule by relating to the historic caravans at the Silk street or reminding Fielding that Caesar did no longer thank the generals till they received.

Williams brings warmth to the position as the "analog" Ginny tackles new generation or even social media to assist the hunt. And Berchtold reminds us that "calculated, deliberate selections" are crucial, but so are dedicated friends, human and in any other case, who love us without conditions.