Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Dog Gone’ On Netflix, About A Dog Who Runs Away And A Family’s Quest To Find Him (2024)

In Netflix’s Dog Gone, Rob Lowe and Johnny Berchtold star as a father and son on a mission to find their family dog and repair their own fractured relationship. In the film, their dog (who has an admittedly silly name, Gonker) gets lost on the Appalachian Trail. While the disappearance of a beloved pet would be devastating enough, Gonker has an illness that requires him to get a shot every 30 days, making the search to find him a race against time, as well as an opportunity to bring Gonker’s human family together.

DOG GONE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The sun peeks through the leaves of the trees on a college campus. Fielding Marshall (Johnny Berchtold) sits with a friend munching on sandwiches until he spots his ex-girlfriend on the quad hanging with another guy, and promptly loses his appetite. Fielding says that he wants to go to the dog pound. No better way to fill the hole in his heart than with man’s best friend, right?

The Gist: During his senior year at college, Fielding Marshall adopts Gonker, a yellow Lab that ends up going everywhere with him (He gives the dog the name because as a puppy, he bonked Fielding on the head, which Fielding refers to as a “gonk,” and thus, the malapropism stuck.) Fielding gives Gonker all of his attention and is perhaps too distracted by the dog – so distracted that he misses his graduation ceremony when the two go out to a river to sleep under the stars, and he doesn’t spend any of his time at school thinking about his future. Which means that his parents John and Ginny (Rob Lowe and Kimberly Williams-Paisley) are not thrilled when Fielding moves home after graduation, bringing Gonker with him. Though Rob Lowe plays John with kindness, there’s no mistaking the fact that he’s meant to portray a traditional dad who thinks his son is a little wayward and hippie-dippy, and he’s not thrilled that Fielding doesn’t have a job lined up. But, as Fielding mentions throughout the film, all he really wants to do in life is follow his own path and have fun doing things he loves like kayaking. Trouble is, according to John, kayaking is no way to make a living.

John’s also not happy that Fielding has tethered himself to a dog (instead of a job or a new apartment), and he’s not charmed when Gonker jumps on him and chases animals in the yard. It doesn’t take long though, for Fielding’s parents to realize Gonker’s a good pup. John is especially sweet when he comes around to Gonker, singing to the dog when he realizes he’s afraid of thunderstorms, and playing fetch during Zoom calls at work. One day, Gonker appears listless, and the entire family races him to the vet where they learn that he has Addison’s disease, an adrenal insufficiency that can be treated with shots every 30 days. If left untreated, Gonker would be susceptible to a dip in his hormone levels that could be fatal.

Shortly after Gonker’s diagnosis, Fielding takes a hike with Gonker on the Appalachian Trail near his home in Virginia, and the dog scampers off. Fielding searches to no avail and comes home devastated, telling his parents the dog is gone. The next day, his parents mobilize, reaching out to shelters, animal hospitals, and any other places they can think of to find the dog, and John tells Fielding they’re going to hike the trail to find Gonker. It’s been ten days since Gonker had his last shot, which means they have 20 days before he needs his next one.

But Gonker’s not the only one with an ailment. While he searches for his dog, Fielding deals with excruciating stomach pains that he keeps from his family. As John and Fielding set out on the trail to find the dog, they realize they have more compassion and respect for one another than either of them previously thought. Still, they only have so much time before the dog – and Fielding – need medical care.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? While the story arcs are different, movies like 2022’s Dog, and 2017’s A Dog’s Purpose are two recent, comparable entries in the dog-as-soulmate canon.

Our Take: A family is brought together and made stronger while searching for their lost dog. The premise could go in a million different ways, from Oscar bait to Hallmark movie, and Dog Gone falls somewhere in the middle (okay, a smidge closer to the Hallmark end of the spectrum). But there’s enough added complexity to the story to make the film enjoyable and not just a pile of schmaltz. There are a lot of great, conversational jokes thrown into the dialogue (Rob Lowe explaining the plot of Vision Quest to a bunch of hippie Gen-Zers hiking the trail is pretty great), but the film certainly remains geared toward a younger audience.

John and Ginny could have had a bigger character swing if they played up their parental cruelty or disappointment in Fielding early on, or Gonker could have been put in situations that were more dangerous while he was on the trail, but the point of the movie was never to play up life’s dangers or evils. No, it’s to find the good in everyone and everything. So even though you always knew that Gonker was going to be found, or that father and son would find common ground, there was never any reason to create unnecessary tension or conflict.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: The story of Fielding and Gonker is a real one. In a photo epilogue at the end of the film, a picture of the actual Gonker is displayed, and beneath it, it reads, “Gonker was never separated from the Marshalls again.” A second photo, of Fielding, then reads “Fielding now lives in Chile… where he gives kayaking tours.”

Sleeper Star: Gonker, of course.

Most Pilot-y Line: “Gonker isn’t any dog.”

Our Call: STREAM IT! Dog Gone is hokey and sappy in many ways, but it’s also a wholesome family movie that’s very sweet. Some sensitive kids might be upset by the general premise of a beloved pet that goes missing, and there’s a somewhat surprising moment where Fielding vomits blood on account of his illness, both of those things could preclude some younger viewers from wanting to watch. But overall, there is a kindness and a positive message that makes the movie’s sappiness feel less cheeseball and more like a warm hug. From a dog. That sleeps in your bed with you.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.