Life with Dog - Crew Review

The DVD release of Life with Dog from Mill Creek Entertainment will be available at Walmart stores starting June 4, 2019.  The 106 minutes drama film has earned the Dove Seal for ages twelve and up. The film begins with a mysterious bike accident, where Joe Bigler loses his wife Alice. The circumstances of Alice’s accident leave Joe with more questions than he can handle and he quickly finds himself into a dark abyss, uncertain of all things. Three months later, mail is piling up, he is sleeping on the couch, and lives alone in bitterness as he talks to Alice, who he believes replies to him. His daughter, Zoe, encourages him to speak to her pastor to get help. Zoe, like her mother was, is a Christian, and her faith doesn’t sit well with Joe.

During his conversation with the pastor, Joe shares that he tried to reach out to God two times. One, he was at work when he received the call that his son was in the hospital dying, so he begged God to not take his son. Two, three months ago when the cops told him his wife had fallen off her bike and taken to the same hospital, he’s told it doesn’t look good, and as the machine beeped to say she was still with him, he begged God for Alice to live.

Throughout the film, a new building development is going up near Joe’s home, and he refuses to sell his house. He believes someone associated with the developers killed his wife so he would sell his house. When a dog wanders into his garden and won’t leave despite Joe’s many attempts to rid him. Without so much as a single bark, “Dog” as Joe has named him, ultimately leads him to the white truck that hit his wife, to find the man who hit and killed his wife.

The back cover of the DVD case refers to Joe finding faith that lead him to the road to recovery; but throughout the film, it is clear, Joe does not have faith. In the end, he makes the choice to forgive the man who accidently killed his wife; but our family did not see his faith in God throughout the film. Our family was actually disappointed with the way the film ended, it did not tell what happened to both men, especially after their heart to heart conversation. Yet, through it all, we see Joe is able to finally grieve his wife’s passing.

Visit the Crew Blog to read what the Homeschool Review Crew has to say about this film, Life with Dog from Mill Creek Entertainment.