Furthermore, the voice of Kevin Costner as Enzo received polarized reviews. While some found his gravelly monotone soothing, others—as aggregated by the site’s critical blurbs—found it somnolent. The criticism was clear: the film was too sad to be fun, too predictable to be intellectually engaging, and too reliant on the viewer’s pre-existing love for dogs to earn its emotional crescendos. If the critics saw manipulation, the audience saw salvation. The 85% Audience Score tells a radically different story. For the millions who read the book, and for the millions more who simply love animal companions, the film was a resounding success. The user reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are littered with phrases like "I wept the entire time," "A beautiful tribute to loyalty," and "Ignore the critics—this is for dog lovers."
However, on screen, critics argued, the device falls flat. Reviews collected on Rotten Tomatoes consistently point to the film’s use of a CGI dog’s mouth to simulate speech—a technique many found uncanny and distracting rather than endearing. The Los Angeles Times called it “a two-hour Kleenex commercial,” while The Guardian lamented that the film substitutes genuine pathos for “sloppy emotional short-cuts.”
The critical argument is rooted in formalism. For a film to be considered "fresh," it must earn a 60% or higher approval rating. Critics penalized The Art of Racing in the Rain for what they perceived as a lack of narrative tension. Viewers familiar with the book know that Denny Swift (played with earnest gravity by Milo Ventimiglia) will face the death of his wife Eve (Amanda Seyfried) and a heinous legal battle with his in-laws. The film walks these beats without deviation, leading critics to accuse it of "checklist filmmaking"—hitting every tear-jerking plot point without the novel’s wry, canine-distanced irony. the art of racing in the rain rotten tomatoes
In the sprawling ecosystem of modern cinema criticism, few metrics hold as much sway—or inspire as much debate—as the Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. For the average moviegoer, a fresh or rotten splat has become a shorthand for quality, a binary verdict that often precedes a single frame being watched. When 20th Century Fox released The Art of Racing in the Rain in August 2019, the film arrived carrying a heavy burden: it was an adaptation of Garth Stein’s globally beloved, tear-stained bestseller, narrated by a philosophizing dog named Enzo. The Rotten Tomatoes score that followed was, much like the film’s own plot, a study in tragic contradiction.
The audience score reveals a fundamental truth about this genre: the "Dog Movie" exists outside the standard laws of cinematic critique. Viewers do not rate The Art of Racing in the Rain on pacing, character arcs, or visual composition. They rate it on . Did the film capture the way a dog looks at you when you are grieving? Did it convey the silent, four-legged witness to human suffering? Furthermore, the voice of Kevin Costner as Enzo
In the end, Enzo—the philosopher behind the wheel—might have the best take. He teaches that the driver must look where they want to go, not at the obstacles. The critics looked at the obstacle (the CGI mouth, the cliches) and spun out. The audience looked at the finish line (emotional release, loyalty, grief) and drove straight through.
Moreover, the audience understood the "racing" metaphor. The film’s central philosophy—that the car goes where your eyes go, and that you cannot look at the wall if you want to survive the turn—is simplistic, but to the non-critic, it is profound. The audience score reflects a willingness to embrace cliché as comfort. The disparity between the 42% critical score and the 85% audience score is not a failure of the Rotten Tomatoes algorithm; it is a perfect representation of the film’s identity. The Art of Racing in the Rain is a litmus test for what you value in art. If the critics saw manipulation, the audience saw salvation
Audiences, conversely, value . In a chaotic world, the predictability of a dog dying (or reincarnating) is a form of safety. Audiences value shared grief . Watching Denny hold Eve’s hand as she passes is not a "spoiler"; it is a ritual. Audiences value therapeutic utility . They rated the film highly not because they thought it was a cinematic masterpiece, but because it allowed them to cry about something other than their own lives. Conclusion: The Dog’s Verdict Looking at the Rotten Tomatoes page for The Art of Racing in the Rain is like looking at a Rorschach test. The critic sees a manipulative, over-long, talking-dog melodrama with flat lighting and a predictable script. The fan sees a faithful, loving, tear-stained hug of a movie that reminds them why they love their golden retriever.