The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019)

What makes The Art of Racing in the Rain special is its disarming choice of storyteller: a dog with the calm, watchful wisdom of someone who’s loved hard and learned harder, voiced with warm gravitas by Kevin Costner. The film blends the cozy intimacy of a family drama with the forward-thrusting energy of racing, finding surprisingly graceful connections between taking a corner at speed and surviving life when it refuses to play fair. It’s unabashedly earnest and built to squeeze your heart—sometimes you can see the emotional turns coming, but that only makes the payoff feel more like catharsis than manipulation. If you’re allergic to tearjerkers, this may be too openly sentimental, but if you’ve ever loved a pet or needed a story that believes in persistence, it’s an easy one to embrace.

The Art of Racing in the Rain is aiming for an uplifting, tear-soaked fable about loyalty, grief, and perseverance, filtered through a dog’s wise, heartfelt narration. The problem is it often feels like it’s pressing the “cry now” button rather than earning the emotion, with plot turns that can come off contrived and a bit checklist-y in how relentlessly it piles on tragedy. If you’re allergic to sentimental, inspirational-drama beats and courtroom melodrama that leans hard on coincidence and manipulation, this will likely irritate you more than move you. That said, Kevin Costner’s voice work is warmly grounded, the central bond is genuinely sweet, and if you want a safe, cathartic weep with a comforting message, it delivers exactly that.