With 2019’s A Dog’s Journey, we get a sequel to 2017’s A Dog’s Purpose. Back in that film, a dog named Bailey (voiced by Josh Gad) bonded with a human named Ethan (Dennis Quaid) and returned to him across reincarnated lifetimes.

As Journey starts, an elderly Bailey exists as a St. Bernard/Australian shepherd mix and he lives with an elderly Ethan, his wife Hannah (Marg Helgenberger), and two-year-old granddaughter CJ (Emma Volk). CJ’s mother Gloria (Betty Gilpin) lacks the ability to care for CJ on her own, and her poor relationship choices lead to problems.

These take Bailey down a different path: one as CJ’s protector. Old Bailey passes and becomes reincarnated as different breeds, all of whom follow an older CJ (Abby Ryder Fortson and Kathryn Prescott) to keep her safe.

Embarrassing but true: when I requested Journey, I didn’t realize it acted as a continuation of Purpose, possibly because I barely remembered Purpose at all. To my surprise, the movie did pretty good business, with $64 million in the US and $205 million worldwide.

Journey failed to muster the same audience. It grabbed $22 million US and $67 million overall, an enormous drop from the first flick.

Because I didn’t see Purpose, I can’t offer a good explanation for the decline, but I’d guess viewers simply got enough of the story and theme with that movie. Based on their plot similarities, Journey feels like a borderline remake, as it just substitutes CJ for Ethan.

It shouldn’t take much for a dog-based movie to grab me. Longtime readers know my absolute devotion to canines, so a tale like this should be right up my alley.

Alas, Journey seems too juvenile for my taste. It definitely follows a simple, kid-oriented path, one that lacks much cleverness or real charm.

Of course, the array of dogs ensures some appeal as well as emotion. Virtually all of this relates to my own experiences with pooches, though, so the movie fails to generate impact of its own.

Beyond my own connection to canines, though, I just can’t find much substance in Journey. Less a movie and more a collection of scenes, the flick rambles and lacks much impact.

Gad’s “vocals” for Bailey don’t help. He overacts relentlessly and makes an already cloying production even cutesier.

The human side of matters doesn’t compensate. CJ fails to become an interesting personality at any age, and the supporting roles lack much substance as well. An inevitable romantic thread feels predictable and stale.

I like Quaid, but he plays a pretty minor part in Journey. He pops up mainly at the beginning and end, so don’t expect much from him the rest of the way.

Ultimately, these factors add up to a mediocre 108 minutes. As much as I love dogs, this becomes a Journey to forget.

A Dog’s Journey appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a satisfactory presentation.

Overall sharpness seemed solid. A couple of wide shots looked a smidgen soft, but those were the exception to the rule, as the majority of the flick was accurate and detailed.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I noticed no edge haloes. Source flaws were absent, as the movie looked consistently clean.

Like most films of this sort, Journey gave us a mix of amber and teal. Within those parameters, the hues were positive.

Blacks seemed deep and dark, while shadows showed good smoothness and clarity. I felt happy with the transfer.

As for the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack of Journey, it lacked a ton of ambition. The soundfield focused on music and ambience, though it opened up on occasion, mainly in terms of street or farm atmosphere. Nothing especially memorable occurred, though.

Audio quality was fine. Speech seemed natural and concise, without edginess or other issues. Music offered good clarity and range, and effects worked well enough.

They didn’t have much to do, but they appeared reasonably accurate. All of this ended up as a perfectly satisfactory soundtrack for this sort of movie.

As we shift to extras, we launch with an audio commentary from director Gail Mancuso. She brings a running, screen-specific look at story and characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, music, effects, and working with animals.

Overall, Mancuso provides a perfectly listenable chat that never threatens to become anything more than that. While she seems personable and covers the movie to a reasonable degree, the commentary lacks the depth it needs to really work.

Five featurettes follow, and Working With Dogs lasts five minutes, 35 seconds. It brings comments from co-writers W. Bruce Cameron and Cathryn Michon, animal coordinator Bonnie Judd, and actors Kathryn Prescott, Daniela Barbosa, Henry Lau, Marg Helgenberger, Betty Gilpin, Abby Ryder Fortson and Dennis Quaid.

As implied by the title, we learn about the movie’s canine performers. Expect a fluffy but reasonably informative reel.

With A Dog’s Sequel, we get a five-minute, 13-second reel that includes notes from Quaid, Helgenberger, Lau, Gilpin, Fortson, Prescott, Mancuso, producer Gavin Palone, executive producer Seth William Meier, and actor Josh Gad.

“Sequel” examines story/character realms as well as Mancuso’s impact on the production. Little substance emerges in this mediocre clip.

Everyone’s Best Friend spans three minutes, 55 seconds and involves Quaid, Prescott, Gilpin, Gad, Lau, Fortson and Helgenberger. The actors discuss their pets in this fluffy piece that earns redemption due to all the footage of dogs.

Next comes A Healing Journey, a three-minute, nine-second show with Gad, Cameron, Quaid, Mancuso, Helgenberger and Polone. “Healing” looks more at dogs and their impact on our lives as well as the movie’s themes. It’s watchable at best.

Finally, Scoring the Journey fills three minutes, 22 seconds with info from Mancuso, piano soloist Emily Bear and composer Mark Isham. As expected, “Scoring” covers the film’s music. It does so in a bland manner.

Nine Deleted and Extended Scenes occupy a total of 10 minutes, 32 seconds. Obviously none of these last very long, so don’t expect much from them. They provide minor character beats but nothing I’d call memorable.

A Gag Reel runs seven minutes and features the usual goofs and silliness. At least the array of dogs makes it a little more fun.

The disc opens with ads for Mirai and Secret Life of Pets 2. No trailer for Journey appears here.

A second disc provides a DVD copy of Journey. It includes the same extras as the Blu-ray.

Despite an array of adorable canines, A Dog’s Journey fails to provide a particularly enjoyable tale. Slow and stale, it doesn’t go anywhere especially interesting. The Blu-ray brings good picture, adequate audio and a decent mix of supplements. Journey lacks much charm or purpose.