Pets. I have never had pets of my own. I do not think that I am a pet person, to be honest. I have always wanted one, but it is too big a commitment for me that I never got around to having one. I have never enjoyed movies that featured animals but when I saw the trailer for the movie The Art of Racing in the Rain, I felt that it was something I would want to see. When my sister mentioned that she had seen the movie the night before and that she had cried so bad I decided to check out the schedules so I could see it too.
Based on the novel of the same name, the story revolves around a golden retriever named Enzo (voiced by Kevin Costner), who is dying. He starts to tell the story of his life with Denny (Milo Ventimiglia), a race car driver who bought him as a puppy.
The viewer then sees Denny’s life through Enzo’s eyes: his racing, meeting his wife Eve (Amanda Seyfried), the experience of having a daughter, the death of his wife, and the custody battle that he had with Eve’s parents when she died.
The film shows how involved Enzo was in Denny’s life and how loyal and beloved he was in his family. Many moments show this throughout the film, the most noteworthy being when he ran away with the settlement agreement that Denny almost signed to give his in-laws custody of his daughter just so that he would change his mind and fight.
By the end of the movie, you would be a cold-hearted person not to feel bad when Denny gives Enzo one last ride in his car on the racetrack where he teaches. It truly is a heart-tugging moment because even Enzo knew that he was about to die and was looking forward to what he believed would be his next life as a human being.
At first, I thought that the movie might be a little corny since you had a talking dog as the lead character in the movie but Kevin Costner’s voice and the way he delivered as Enzo throughout the film was actually very soothing and endearing that I ended up loving Enzo a lot. It was not corny at all.
Despite the tragedies that happened to Denny, I felt that this was a feel-good movie that ultimately had a happy ending. After everything that he had gone through, Denny became a race car driver in Italy for Ferrari and was with his daughter. And, as revealed in the end, in a way Enzo was still with him.
It was that last moment that really made me cry. I did not expect to cry watching this movie. I had watched the wife die, saw the struggle with the custody battle and the death of Enzo, but it was that ending reveal of a young Italian boy with golden hair who was also named Enzo whose age was about the same as the number of years since the dog died, that was what did me in. I was crying so much than it was possible if I were a pet person. Imagine if I were someone with a pet dog, I would probably have been bawling like crazy!
Of course, I cannot fail to mention that one of the reasons that I watched this movie was because of Milo Ventimiglia. I have been a fan for a long time, and I am happy that I have been seeing him in movies and on TV often these days. I hope to see him more in the future. This is Us has been good for him.
It was a good movie. A little depressing midway but it was sweet and a tearjerker. If you love a good drama with a feel-good ending, you will enjoy this one.
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