Budget has nothing to do with telling a good story. A film can be backed by a major studio spending a billion dollars top to bottom can bomb and a film made on a nano budget can sell out regularly based solely on whether or not the story is compelling and executed well. A tightened budget can, in most cases, inspire creativity in difficult situations in a way that million-dollar corps often figure cash can buy a way out of. Especially if the film aligns the performances with the production design, effects, and narrative to craft a total production that feels in-harmony and on-mission. Such is the case with Toby Jones’s (Regular Show: The Movie) new project, AJ Goes to the Dog Park, shot entirely in Fargo, North Dakota, and having its world premiere during Fantastic Fest 2024. AJ Goes to the Dog Park will vibe with a specific audience that delights in comedic irony, pedantisms, comic zaniness, and general tomfoolery while seeking to offer an important message about the blinding nature of goals and preservation of balance.
Center: AJ Thompson as AJ in AJ GOES TO THE DOG PARK. Photo courtesy of Justin Cook PR.
AJ’s (AJ Thompson) life is as perfect as he could make it: low stress job, regular meals with family and friends, and easy access to a dog park for his two pups Diddy and Biff (played by themselves, respectively). But when the mayor (Crystal Cossette Knight) decides to make her dream of a blog park a reality by replacing the locally-based and on-the-nose titled Dog Park, it’s the first domino in a series that starts taking away all of AJ’s comforts. Unable to deal with the loss of the dog park, AJ undergoes an adventure to right this perceived wrong in hopes to reset all that’s gone wrong. But will it be enough?
For ease, as the title includes the central character’s name, the film will be referred to as Dog Park moving forward.
There are two components worth examining in a spoiler-free review: the tone and the thematic elements. The first falls in line with the idiosyncratic nature of Jones’s other works which often use absurdist comedy. This takes the form of characters telling AJ not to cry with lines that specifically call out his “CG tears” or that when he bursts into the mayor’s office, he leaves an AJ-shaped hole in the door. It’s AJ drinking a liquid meal sent by a friend straight from a package instead of a more sensible food safe container. For the moments that connect with the audience as they lean into the absurd, the emotional beats end up highlighted further, making for a greater impact. Other times, the absurd may just be a means of moving the action forward in a way that reduces stunt work or the use of CG, like Diddy and Biff’s stunt doubles which are stuffies, or an inflatable in the place of AJ himself. In either case, the tone that these moments strike are in constant harmony, never straying too far from the baseline established at the start — an important element considering just how wild the film gets within the last 20 minutes or so.
AJ Thompson as AJ in AJ GOES TO THE DOG PARK. Photo courtesy of Justin Cook PR.
The narrative, though, is the surprise. Jones’s film contains several laughs created by moments expected and unexpected either through line delivery, a well-earned payoff, or visual flair, but it’s the story that ends up being a sneaky minx. From the above summary, Dog Park is about rectifying a perceived slight as the continued changes in AJ’s life are beyond his control, but returning the dog park is not. From here, the film sets forth to take the audience on an adventure as AJ struggles to discover his path in life once he’s unable to just coast happily along. It’s not that the film is making a case for a mediocre life as satisfactory, rather that if one is happy in the place they are in the moment, that’s ok. The film ends up exploring how breaking free from our average life is a matter of choice and that the degree to which we deviate from our prior path is up to us; however, that doesn’t mean we should become devoted to the change either. This is what’s truly fascinating about Jones’s narrative as it specifically points out the problem with obsessive goal-making, applicable to saving your local dog park or any other full-throated dream pursuit.
Passionate days are just as important as the low-key days. The balancing of the two creates whole people with full lives and as many purposeful, enriching moments as one can fit in. What makes this narrative standout is how it doesn’t merely slag on those who are happy with routine week-in and week-out without concern for elevating themselves, an element which would be typically viewed as a lack of ambition instead of how it’s presented here: as contentment. A story does require conflict and, therefore, AJ’s contentment must be broken and then focused to create action, which Jones does in a variety of comedic ways. But it never does so while talking down to AJ regarding what he lost, even as his quest to return back to those days of peace and tranquility are met with a repetition of life-lessons he continually ignores.
AJ Thompson as AJ in AJ GOES TO THE DOG PARK. Photo courtesy of Justin Cook PR.
AJ Goes to the Dog Park may be small of budget, but its large of big ideas and its execution fits snuggly between the two. There’s little doubt that Dog Park is going to hit its target audience like gangbusters, those who enjoy “24 fishsticks” as the answer to “Why did the chicken cross the road?”. One thing is absolutely certain, whether you pass the vibe check or not, Toby Jones made something pure and unfiltered, even if filtered through the prism of where it was shot, Fargo, North Dakota. Will local jokes keep them confined to local work? Nope — this dog park’s got legs.
Screening during Fantastic Fest 2024.
In select theaters July 25th, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Fantastic Fest 2024 AJ Goes to the Dog Park webpage.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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