Very well executed

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Fluke is directed by Carlo Carlei who also co-adapts the screenplay with James Carrington from the novel written by James Herbert. It stars Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Nancy Travis, Ron Perlman, Bill Cobbs, Jon Polito and Samuel L. Jackson. Music is scored by Carlo Siliotto and cinematography by Raffaele Mertes.Workaholic Thomas Johnson is killed in an auto accident and is reincarnated as a dog. As he grows from pup to adult dog he starts to remembering things from his human life and sets about piecing together exactly who he was and what happened to him.It was a box office flop, a hard sell anyway with its cross genre themes, but MGM didn't know how to market it. Was it an animal adventure for the kids? A family drama message movie? Or a metaphysical bit of dalliance? Truth is is that it is all three, an engagingly thoughtful movie that is flavoured by fantastical whimsy whilst also beating a poetic heart. There's humour in here, too, especially when Fluke teams up with the wise and shaggy Rumbo (Jackson). But predominantly picture is about emotional beats, sitting in that void between genuine warmth and tragedy. It's unashamedly sentimental, but that's a good thing, and it's not just confined to the animal aspects of the story, this is still a very real human drama. The messages within are handled with care, there's no beating us over the head here.Director Carlei disappeared from Hollywood after the failure of Fluke, which is a shame since he crafts a great picture of strength. His dog POV camera work is smart in bringing us into Fluke's world, and many shots are gorgeously framed and filmed by director and photographer alike. It's also admirable in how he handles the excellent canine actors (Comet as Fluke is mightily impressive and expressive), it's no disgrace to the human actors to say the canines own the movie. There's some implausibilities, obviously, and one or two moments are too surreal for their own good; a laboratory break out sequence is cheer worthy but Carlei overdoes it, but this is still a lovely and interesting movie. Just like the great John Herbert's novel is for adults, so is the film. You can watch it with the kids for sure, so long as you have the fortitude to discuss with them the film's inner workings. 8/10

According to the Vedic literature of India, people are not always reincarnated as human beings. Depending on their karma, some are promoted to higher forms beyond our present experience and others are degraded to lower species. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita: "When one dies in the mode of ignorance, he takes birth in the animal kingdom." Dramatizing this point of ancient doctrine, Fluke is about a man who is killed in an auto accident and returns as a dog to protect his wife and young son and to learn some important lessons. Based on a novel by James Herbert, a British writer known for his work in the horror genre, the film is directed by Carlo Carlei, an Italian director whose first feature, The Flight of the Innocents received considerable praise.In Fluke, Thomas Johnson (Matthew Modine) and Jeff Newman (Eric Stolz) are business partners who have had a falling out. After Newman takes off after an argument, Johnson chases after him in his car but is run off the highway by an oncoming truck and has a fatal accident. The film then moves to an urban alley where an older dog is nursing her newborn pups until she is hauled away by animal control officers and taken to the pound. Left to fend for himself, the small pup hooks up with Bella (Collin Wilcox Paxton), a homeless woman who names him "Fluke" because he is always able to figure out where the stone is in a shell game that brings in some money for the unlikely pair.Shot in cuts with both real and animatronic dogs, Fluke, now a fully-grown Golden Retriever, meets a street-wise St. Bernard named Rumbo who communicates telepathically with him in the voice of Samuel L. Jackson and teaches him the ways of the world. After some misadventures in an auto junkyard and an escape from a cosmetic research laboratory that experiments with animals, Fluke remembers the family he left behind when he was a man and manages to find his way back to his former wife Carol (Nancy Travis) and son Brian (Max Pomeranc) in the town of Hopewell. Realizing that when he was a man, he never had enough time to be with his son, Fluke makes up for his past failures and the scenes showing him playing with Brian are quite moving.Fluke decides that his mission is to protect his wife from Newman, his old business partner, whom he thinks is out to do her harm. While the animals' acting ability appear to be mystifying, in reality they were very well trained to respond to verbal and physical commands and were rewarded with food, never mistreated. Max Pomeranc, the adorable chess player from Searching for Bobby Fischer, turns in an outstanding performance as young Brian Johnson but unfortunately it is wasted in a film that was undone by dismal reviews from film critics, who called it "morbid", "bizarre", and "a booby trap for fuzzy-animal lovers and kids", all the things that it is not.The same critics also thought the idea of reincarnation might be too "deep" for children and the film consequently bombed at the box office, an occurrence that many think caused Pomeranc to abandon a promising film career. While not overlooking its many clichéd moments, Fluke deserved a better fate. It is a heart warming story that may just encourage children to think about some things they will never hear about in church or in school.

Forget your spiritual beliefs. Yes, this is an impossible and surreal story. So what? It's beautiful, sentimental, sad and depressing. "Fluke" isn't just a movie about man's best friend. It's one of the best of its kind. They don't make movies like this now. It's a touching, dramatic, deeply emotional, heartwarming and sweet movie. A magical touch has a role here too and it goes beyond the small number of special effects (which are effective).Very few movies are capable of making me teary eyed. This one, however, is powerful on that. There are many emotional scenes. I should bring a Kleenex with me whenever I watch this film.Despite the frequent use of simplicity, this movie can also count with the help of gorgeous sceneries: sunsets, rivers, waterfalls, green places, mountains, snow and other things.The soundtrack is a revelation and a masterpiece. It fits in perfection: soft, relaxing, emotional and beautiful piano melody. It's entirely instrumental, no vocals or singing.I've always loved this movie and I've always thought that Fluke is such a beautiful name. Plus, Comet is another beautiful name. Comet is the name of the brown Golden Retriever that portrays Fluke, while Barney is the name of the Saint Bernard-like dog that portrays Rumbo. Both of them terrific "actors" - especially the Retriever, very convincing and very expressive with his sad eyes and general acting. Golden Retrievers and Saint Bernards are among my favorite dog breeds. They're so beautiful and affectionate.As for the cast, we've got Nancy Travis as the pretty Carol in one of her best roles. We have Matthew Modine in a good performance as Tom, a workaholic. True, we don't see much of human Tom, but what we see is enough to realize that he was an emotionally distant workaholic. There is also Eric Stoltz (who was originally considered for the role of Marty McFly in "Back to the Future"), good as Jeff Newman. As the voice of Rumbo, we've got Samuel L. Jackson (not much of an actor, but his vocal performance is interesting). And finally, there is Max Pomeranc, who steals the show as Brian (the son of Tom and Carol). Max Pomeranc, besides being a cute and handsome boy, was also a brilliant actor. Too bad he didn't want to continue a career as an actor after this, his 2nd and last film.As for the characters, Rumbo is a cool quadruped chap. Fluke is so sweet and affectionate that we almost forget he was once Tom. Brian is such a loving and sweet kid, one of the nicest kids in the big screen. His love for Fluke is another close resemblance to the other doggy movies like this.As a final note and personal observation, it's sad that this movie did so poorly at the theaters and critically. It's one of those movies which were unfairly criticized... and is underrated either. One of the few things I don't like in this movie is the evil Sylvester character: very sinister-looking with his demon-like face and also a vicious man. This should definitely be on Top 250.

My kids just watched this movie and although I've never posted a review, this time my kids insisted. Here's what they had to say... this movie was a huge disappointment. They said it was bad, bad, bad. They thought, and rightly so after reading the back of the movie box, that this would be a funny and exciting movie. But it was so sad that they couldn't enjoy any of it. Too many people/dogs are hurt or dead. Then the end! Terrible. Well I guess my kids are used to a little happiness at the end of a good movie (even a good sad movie). We know a lot of people liked it but my guys don't recommend it to any one. They did like when Fluke was happy or escaping from the pound.