THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM
vets Cameron, Maya Forbes, Cathryn Michon, and Wallace Wolodarsky, “A Dog’s Journey” has the emotional bite to match its somewhat hokey bark. Both “A Dog’s Purpose” and “A Dog’s Journey” are metaphysical and philosophical films that purport the theory that the same dog spirit has been reincarnated again and again into different canine forms over its owner’s lifetime, always trying to make it back home. It’s a fantastical idea, and all rather Buddhist for a film that traffics in heartland family values nostalgia cheerleading. But it’s a fantasy dog lovers want to believe. Bailey, the St. Bernard from “A Dog’s Purpose,” reappears as a kindly older dog in “Journey,” the beloved pet of Ethan (Dennis Quaid) and Hannah (Marg Helgenberger). Bailey bonds with Ethan and Hannah’s toddler granddaughter, CJ (Emma Volk), while their daughter-in-law Gloria (Betty Gilpin) grieves the death of CJ’s father in a car wreck. A selfish and vain woman, she impulsively leaves the family farm with her daughter, denying the grandparents any chance of seeing her again while tossing off vague accusations about CJ’s father’s life insurance policy. Losing a beloved dog is a part of pet ownership, and as Ethan says goodbye to his friend Bailey for the final time, he implores the dog to find and protect CJ in his next lives, because she’ll need it. CJ grows up a lonely, sad girl (Abby Ryder Fortson and Kathryn Prescott), but Bailey finds her again and again, as a beagle named Molly, a mastiff named Big Dog and finally, a Yorkie named Max, who has the greatest influence on CJ’s life, and helps her to believe in the magic of the animal’s spirit. This isn’t all romps in the tall grass — it’s about family trauma, death, domestic abuse, neglectful parenting, addiction and life-threatening illness. It’s about how dogs can fill the hole in your heart that a person might leave. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR
1/2 PG-13, 100 minutes. Starts tonight at Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. Teenagers need melodrama. They always have. It seems its big, sweeping emotions are somehow the only things that can match the highstakes, hormone-enhanced teenage feelings. Director Ry Russo-Young excels at rendering those emotions with a singular sense of artfulness. In “The Sun is Also a Star,” Russo-Young swirls together sun-dappled selfies, luscious skin, urban grittiness and hip-hop beats, the aesthetics perfectly matched to emotion. She creates a heady, knee-buckling mood that nearly conceals the weaknesses in story and performances. The film is the feature adaptation of Nicola Yoon’s second novel. In “The Sun is Also a Star,” the stakes are high and the clock is ticking on a mandatory deportation from the United States. Yara Shahidi (of “blackish” and “grown-ish”) stars as Natasha, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants. The day before her family is set to be deported back to Jamaica, she makes a last-ditch attempt to change their fate by pleading their case to an immigration lawyer. She’s spotted by Daniel (“Riverdale” star Charles Melton), and he takes off after her. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service PG, 91 minutes. Starts Friday at Madison Art Cinemas. This documentary focuses on an L.A. couple that leaves the city to create a sustainable farm. A review wasn’t available by deadline.
THE CAKEMAKER
Not rated, 113 minutes. Tonight only at Mystic Luxury Cinemas. German pastry maker travels to Jerusalem in search of the wife and son of his dead lover. A review wasn’t available.