Starring: Dennis Quaid, Marg Helgenberger, Betty Gilpin, Henry Lau, Kathryn Prescott, Josh Gad
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story:
Family drama sequel directed by Gail Mancuso, in which the story is told from the dog’s perspective, Bailey (Josh Gad), who is living the good life on the Michigan farm of his boy, Ethan (Dennis Quaid), and Ethan’s wife, Hannah (Marg Helgenberger). He even has a new playmate: Ethan and Hannah’s baby granddaughter, CJ.
The problem is that CJ’s mom, Gloria (Betty Gilpin), decides to take CJ away. As Bailey’s soul prepares to leave this life for a new one, he makes a promise to Ethan to find CJ and protect her at any cost. So begins Bailey’s adventure through multiple lives filled with love, friendship and devotion as he, CJ (Kathryn Prescott), and CJ’s best friend, Trent (Henry Lau), experience joy and heartbreak, music and laughter, and few really good belly rubs.
Best Quotes (Total Quotes: 40)
Bailey: [voice over] My name is Bailey.
Ethan: You enjoying the breeze, boy?
Bailey: [voice over] I love my boy Ethan.
Ethan: Boss Dog.
Bailey: [voice over] And I love my girl Hannah too.
Hannah: Boss Dog. Boss Man.
Bailey: [voice over] I’ve lived a lot of lives, and I’ve peed on a lot of stuff. There is one thing I’ve never been able to figure out though. Why does it always itch right here?
[Bailey takes hold of his tail]
[referring to catching the ball Ethan threw]
Bailey: [voice over] That isn’t getting any easier.
Ethan: That isn’t getting any easier.
[referring to CJ]
Hannah: We’re having fun with our granddaughter.
Bailey: [voice over] Hannah used to have a boy named Henry. He brought Gloria into our pack.
Gloria: If you keep feeding her pancakes, she’s going to get chubby.
[going up to Gloria]
Bailey: [voice over] Maybe this time she’ll give me a treat.
[Gloria walks off]
Bailey: [voice over] No? No treat? Okay.
Ethan: I thought little babies were supposed to be chubby.
[referring to CJ]
Bailey: [voice over] I don’t know where Gloria found this baby, but it is a great addition.
Hannah: CJ is smart and curious. You just have to keep an eye on her.
Gloria: Well, I turned my back for two seconds.
Ethan: More like two years.
Gloria: I leave her with you for a couple hours, and you have Clarity bathing with a filthy dog?
Bailey: [voice over] Finally, Gloria wants to play.
Hannah: Well, they’re just playing.
Gloria: Alright, get out. Get out, dog.
[Bailey gets out of the paddling pool]
Ethan: Oh, come on. They’re just having fun.
Gloria: You know what? Don’t worry, honey. Mommy’s here. Come on. It’s okay.
Bailey: [voice over] Oh, I get what you want me to do.
[Bailey knocks Gloria from behind, making her fall into the paddling pool]
Hannah: Oh!
Gloria: This is why I don’t like dogs.
Bailey: [voice over] Maybe you wanted to stick your nose in my butt?
[young CJ tries to make Bailey drink from her toy teacup]
Baby CJ: Doggy, doggy, doggy.
Bailey: [voice over] Um, there’s nothing in that cup.
Bailey: [voice over] There was trouble in the pack. Somebody must have eaten Gloria’s food.
[Gloria is getting to drive off with C]
Hannah: Gloria, please don’t leave. Let’s talk about this. We can work it out. Whatever it takes. Please, we can work this out.
Gloria: You don’t seem to understand. She’s my baby, not yours.
Hannah: Ethan, what are we going to do?
Ethan: Gloria. Hey, Gloria.
[Hannah is sobbing]
Bailey: [voice over] Such sadness from Hannah.
Baby CJ: Nana.
Hannah: Love you.
Bailey: [voice over] Sad like she was after her boy stopped coming around.
Ethan: Listen, we want you to have some money.
Gloria: No, thanks.
Ethan: It’s for CJ. Would you just take it?
[Gloria takes the envelope of cash]
Ethan: And let us know where you wind up. It’s the least you can do.
[Gloria starts to pull her car out]
Hannah: Gloria.
[Gloria drives off]
Hannah: Bye-bye, CJ! Love you!
Bailey: [voice over] I wanted to chase the car for Hannah and Ethan, but I just didn’t have the energy.
Ethan: I came out here and found him laying here. He’s in a lot of pain. I think it’s time.
Dr. Deb: You’ve done everything you could for him. Do you want a moment?
Ethan: Bailey. Bailey, Bailey, Bailey. You’re my good boy. We had such good times together, didn’t we?
[Ethan sobs quietly as he holds Bailey lovingly]
Ethan: You’ve done so much for me. You think maybe next time you come back, you can come back for CJ, you think? She needs you like I needed you. You can protect her. And you make her feel happy, like you made me feel happy.
Bailey: [voice over] I didn’t understand all the words, but somehow, I knew what Ethan meant.
[as Bailey is about to be euthanized]
Dr. Deb: Are you ready, Ethan?
Ethan: Yeah.
Dr. Deb: Alright, champ. Here we go.
[she gives Bailey the injection]
Ethan: Yeah.
Dr. Deb: Good boy.
Ethan: You’re not going to hurt anymore.
Bailey: [voice over] I remember this from before. A tiny sting, and then my pain melted away.
Ethan: Yeah, Boss Dog. Yeah, bud. Who’s the Boss Dog, hm? You the Boss Dog? I love you, Bailey.
[after being euthanized]
Bailey: [voice over] All my pain was gone. I was in this place, and it was wonderful. Ethan gave me a new purpose. I was going to protect CJ, and I would never stop looking until I found her.
Bailey: [voice over] I was a puppy again. I had a mother and brothers and sisters.
[upon seeing young CJ in his new reincarnated puppy named Molly]
Bailey: [voice over] That girl. There’s something about that girl. I smell something familiar. It smells like…
[sniffs]
Bailey: [voice over] CJ! I remember my purpose! CJ is my purpose! I can’t let her get away. I’m coming, CJ!
[Bailey runs off to get to CJ before she leaves]
Bailey: [voice over] I can’t let Ethan down. Got to get to CJ.
[as he gets to a fence]
Bailey: [voice over] I got this. I got this. I got this. I got this. Oh, I don’t got this.
[rushing to CJ before she leaves]
Bailey: [voice over] I’m coming, CJ! Ugh, this house has too many fences. CJ, it’s me! I’m here to protect you.
[jumps onto her and starts licking her face]
Young CJ: Woh, psycho puppy!
Bailey: [voice over] CJ was a gigantic baby now.
Young CJ: This puppy is insane.
[to his puppy, Rocky]
Young Trent: Sit. Sit. Sit.
[Rocky just looks at him]
Young Trent: Okay, then stand. Good dog.
Young CJ: No, you have to be the authority. Watch and learn.
[to Bailey]
Young CJ: Lie down. Lie down. Lie down.
Bailey: [voice over] I’ll wait till you come up with a better game.
[Bailey lies down]
Young CJ: [to Trent] You see? Good girl.
Trent: Hey, should we start saving for college?
CJ: Molly and I aren’t exactly on the college track, Trent. I’m actually thinking about dropping out of school.
Trent: If I told my parents I was dropping out of high school, they would spontaneously combust.
[CJ laughs]
CJ: Yeah, well, as soon as I can, I’m getting out of here. I’m going to move to New York City.
Trent: And how are you going to do that?
CJ: There was this insurance settlement when my dad died. I finally get the money when I’m eighteen, so I’m going to use it to move to New York, make a demo, and get my career started as a musician.
Trent: You hardly ever talk about your dad.
[sees CJ looking sad]
Bailey: [voice over] I can tell when CJ needs me.
[as he hears the doorbell ring and rushes towards the door]
Bailey: [voice over] I know that smell.
[as the door opens Bailey sees Ethan and Hannah]
Ethan: Hi, Gloria.
Hannah: It’s good to see you.
Bailey: [voice over] Ethan and Hannah! Finally!
[Ethan sees Bailey in his reincarnated form as Molly]
Ethan: Why, hello. Who is this? Hello.
Bailey: [voice over] Ethan! It’s me, Bailey!
[Bailey starts licking Ethan’s face as he leans down]
Ethan: Hey. Who are you? I’m a girl now!
Gloria: This is a surprise.
Hannah: Gloria.
[Hanna hugs Gloria]
Hannah: We sent a note saying we’re going to be in the area, and we hoped it’d be okay to stop by.
Gloria: Did you? Okay. Must have missed that.
Bailey: [voice over] Look, Ethan, look!
Ethan: We were cleaning out the barn, and we found a lot of Henry’s things. We thought that…
Hannah: Yes. We thought that you and CJ might like to see it.
[as he trying to bite his own tail]
Bailey: [voice over] Is anyone seeing what I’m doing here?
Gloria: Yeah, you could have sent whatever that is.
Hannah: Well, we wanted to see you. We want to see CJ.
Gloria: Well, we don’t want to see you, which is why…
Bailey: [voice over] Ethan, it’s me, Bailey! Can’t you tell it’s me?
Ethan: Is that you, Boss Dog?
[Bailey starts barking]
Bailey: [voice over] It’s me, it’s me, it’s me!
Ethan: Gloria, we just want to see CJ.
Gloria: What makes you think you can just show up like this? Okay, I’m not a little kid anymore, so you can’t push me around.
Hannah: We want to see our granddaughter, just to see how she’s doing.
Bailey: [voice over] Ooh, I’ll go tell CJ you’re here.
[rushes into the house]
Gloria: Well, she doesn’t want to see you.
[Bailey goes to CJ’s room]
Bailey: [voice over] You’re not going to believe it. Ethan and Hannah are here, and they smell better than ever. Come! Come now!
CJ: Hey. What are you doing?
Bailey: [voice over] Let’s go. Follow me.
Gloria: We have a whole life without you. I really don’t appreciate this ambush.
Ethan: Ambush? Oh, oh, Gloria, we’re family.
Hannah: Gloria. Can’t we just start again? Please. Let’s just start over.
[Gloria shuts the door on them]
Hannah: Gloria, Gloria, please.
[looking at Gloria]
Bailey: [voice over] You forgot Ethan and Hannah.
Gloria: Don’t look at me like that. All these years later, they still want to take her from me.
Bailey: [voice over] Gloria! Let them in. It’s Ethan and Hannah.
[Bailey goes over to the window to watch Ethan and Hannah]
Ethan: I’ll just leave it here.
[Bailey barks as Ethan places the box on the porch]
Ethan: I know that’s you, Boss Dog.
Bailey: [voice over] I love it when he calls me Boss Dog.
Ethan: You just keep looking after CJ. Okay.
[Bailey watches Ethan and Hanna walk over to their car]
Bailey: [voice over] No, don’t leave! CJ’s here.
[after CJ has a car accident with Bailey in the car with her]
Bailey: [voice over] The car finally stopped. Are you okay, CJ?
[we see Bailey is mortally injured]
CJ: Molly? Molly?
[referring to CJ’s bracelet jingling]
Bailey: [voice over] Oh, I love that sound. It means CJ’s nearby.
CJ: Molly. Molly? Molly?
Bailey: [voice over] But now I know I’m leaving her. I don’t want to.
CJ: Molly.
Bailey: [voice over] But I have no choice.
CJ: [sobbing] Molly. Molly. No, Molly.
Bailey: [voice over] I remembered baby CJ on the farm and how much I wanted to protect her. How much she needed me. Her journey is not over.
[we see Bailey being reincarnated again]
Bailey: [voice over] CJ was so sad. She still needs me. CJ, wherever you are, I promise I’ll find you.
[we see Bailey reincarnated to a Mastiff]
Bailey: [voice over] But first, I need to get a few things out of the way. I need to play. I need to wrestle. I need to bite a few faces. I need to bark. I need to play with a blanket. I need to bite some ears. And, unfortunately, I still have to take baths. I knew my journey was with CJ, but I couldn’t find her scent anywhere.
[upon seeing CJ after Bailey is reincarnated to Big Dog]
Bailey: [voice over] I don’t believe it. It’s my CJ. I found you!
[he goes over to CJ]
Big Joe: Big Dog. He never gets up for anything.
CJ: Big Dog? How did you ever come up with that name?
Big Joe: [laughs] Just sort of came to me.
CJ: Hey there, Big Dog. Hey.
Bailey: [voice over] Now I can go with you.
CJ: How you doing?
Bailey: [voice over] Where are we going?
Big Joe: Must smell a dog on you.
CJ: Oh, I don’t have a dog. Used to though. Her name was Molly. She was the best.
Bailey: [voice over] Oh, she knows it’s me. We’re finally back together.
[Bailey gives his paw to CJ]
Big Joe: Oh.
CJ: Oh, paw. That is so sweet. I, um, I trained my dog to shake.
Big Joe: He’s never done that before.
CJ: Really? Huh. Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Big Dog.
[as Bailey tries to follow CJ]
CJ: Oh, no, no. You have to stay here, Big Dog.
Bailey: [voice over] CJ, no. I’m supposed to come with you.
[CJ leaves the store and gets into her car]
Bailey: [voice over] CJ, wait. What are you doing?
[he watches CJ drive off]
Bailey: [voice over] No! No, you can’t leave me. I told Ethan I would protect you.
[he starts barking and running after CJ’s car]
Big Joe: Big Dog.
Bailey: [voice over] CJ, come back. I need to help you!
Big Joe: Big Dog!
Bailey: [voice over] Please, take me with you. No! No! I can’t lose you. I will never stop. I will never stop. Slow down. I’m sorry, I just can’t run any faster.
Bailey: [voice over] Day after day passed, but no CJ. I don’t know why she left me behind. I waited so long. I got older and older. And when it was time, I knew. I guess I wasn’t going to be with CJ in this life.
[we see Bailey being reincarnated again]
Bailey: [voice over] I had a good life with Joe. But it was really hard knowing CJ was out there without me. I knew our journey wasn’t over.
[Bailey is reincarnated to a Yorkshire Terrier named Max]
Bailey: [voice over] I came back small, but I was not going to let that stop me. I’ve been born enough times now to know that when you’re hungry, you have got to fight for it.
Bailey: [voice over] So, apparently, my growing phase was over. I was going to remain small. Cat-sized. If I was going to find CJ, I was going to need a new strategy.
[reincarnated as Max, we see hum running after CJ as she enters the elevator to her apartment]
Bailey: [voice over] CJ. My CJ. I found you.
CJ: Oh, hello. What you doing?
[as CJ holds him and he starts licking her face]
Bailey: [voice over] Here I am. Here to protect you. Still delicious. Where did you come from?
Ethan: You know, his real name is Bailey. Ain’t that right, Boss Dog?
[Bailey barks]
Ethan: That’s right.
Bailey: [voice over] I love when he calls me Boss Dog.
Ethan: The only thing I can’t figure is how Boss Dog can be such a little guy.
Hannah: Mm-hmm.
CJ: Wait, so my dog is actually your dog?
Ethan: He’s on permanent loan, to you.
CJ: Okay.
Hannah: Bailey was Ethan’s dog when he was a kid, and he always said that Bailey came back as a different dog and brought us back together after many years apart. And now he thinks that Max is Bailey, and Bailey’s brought you to us.
Ethan: She thinks I lost my marbles.
Hannah: Oh, well.
Ethan: Yeah, you do.
[to CJ; referring to her dog, Max, who is really Bailey]
Ethan: There’s a lot you don’t know about that dog. I could show you.
[CJ is now married to Trent and they are expecting their first child]
Bailey: [voice over] I did what Ethan asked. I watched after CJ so that she would have a good life, with a good pack.
CJ: Hey, you want to hear a song I wrote about you, Max?
Bailey: [voice over] I never got tired of hearing CJ say my name.
Bailey: [voice over] I had a lot of lives. All different. Sometimes I was big, and sometimes I was small.
Bailey: [voice over] So many ups and downs. Even Gloria came around once in a while. I trained her to play.
[we see Ethan is sick with his family all around him at his bedside]
Bailey: [voice over] So many goodbyes. He’d been with me so many times when I had to leave. Now I got to be with him.
Bailey: [voice over] So many people. Through it all, I let the people I loved know just how much I loved them.
[we see Bailey looking sick]
Trent: Hey. How’s he doing?
CJ: He’s just been lying there all day.
Trent: You’re a good boy, Max.
CJ: The best. Where would we be without you?
[she lies down next to him]
CJ: You’re a good dog, Molly Max. You’re such a good dog.
Bailey: [voice over] Lying there with my girl holding me, I can feel it happening again. I knew I was saying goodbye, but I wasn’t sad.
[CJ starts singing to him as he dies]
[last lines; we see all four lives Bailey lived running through the field towards Ethan in heaven]
Bailey: [voice over] I knew this to be true. My name was Bailey, and Molly, and Big Dog, and Max. I was a good dog, a Boss Dog. I knew that loving people was my ultimate purpose, and that being here now, loving them forever was my reward.
Ethan: Hello, Boss Dog. Come on, boy. Come on. Come on, buddy. Hey. Alright. Ready? Ready? Go!
[they start running through the field together]
Ethan: Way to go, Boss Dog!
Total Quotes: 40
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