A movie's purpose

At Eliana’s request, we took her to see “The Lego Batman Movie.” I have to say that Barry and I found the nonstop violence, albeit with animated versions of little plastic pieces, rather disturbing. To be honest, this is not a movie I would recommend for anyone, even though it received a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a positive review by Manola Dargis, with whom I do not always agree.

But we thought we had found the antidote to this when we took Maya to see the recently released film, “A Dog’s Purpose.” Maya was not interested in Batman but requested this film instead. The film follows the lives of few dogs and their owners. The catch is that each of the dogs is a reincarnation of the dog that came before: different owners, different breeds, even different sexes, but all the same heart and soul. Some of the dogs simply die of old age, but one, a police dog, is killed while tracking down a brutal robber. In each case, the screen becomes fuzzy and the next dog in the line is introduced.

I have to say that, although somewhat sappy, it was a very sweet story. I am not a huge fan of dogs, but even I found myself tearing up when each of the dogs died. The movie seemed to be a love story for dogs and their owners.

But as I went to write about it, I discovered that this movie, when released, stirred quite a bit of controversy over the treatment of the dogs during the filming. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) strongly urged a boycott of the movie, and that may in part explain why it seemed to have disappeared from many theaters rather quickly after it opened.

Most of you know that I am a vegetarian (who does eat fish occasionally), and I am frequently asked why I have long followed that diet. I never stand on a soap box about this, but it has just always felt better to me not to eat meat and chicken. So I am sympathetic with many of the issues PETA raises. But this time I may have to respectfully disagree. Although the videotape PETA posted on-line does seem to show a rather distressing scene in which a German Shepherd is forced into a raging river, overall I thought the movie offered an incredibly sympathetic view towards animals and their relationships with their owners. I left the movie with a newfound appreciation of my many friends who keep and love their dogs and mourn them when they pass on. Of course we can never know just what the dogs are thinking, but the folks who made this movie surely have tremendous compassion for their pets.

Speaking of animals, the weather was so warm here in New England today that we went to the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island. There is still some snow on the ground and not all of the exhibits are open, but we had a nice time with the children.

The weather does not feel like February vacation, but you will not hear any complaints from me!

Love,

Rebecca