Enzo is an aging golden retriever who tells the story of his life with Denny Swift, a race car driver in Seattle. Denny builds a family with Eve and their daughter Zoe while trying to grow his racing career. Eve becomes seriously ill, and her parents later use a court fight to challenge Denny’s right to raise Zoe. The film has a warm but very sad tone, with racing lessons used to explain how people face loss and change.
The story centers on love between a dog and his owner, a marriage, and a father’s fight to stay with his child. Enzo watches Denny choose between work and family, then helps him keep going after death and legal trouble. The film treats patience, loyalty, courage, and forgiveness as the main answers to hardship. Enzo believes that a dog can earn a human life after death, which gives the family story a gentle spiritual layer.
Community feedback
Was our 2% Woke rating accurate?
Loading review details…
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Art of Racing in the Rain.
Woke representation / casting
Not present. The main family is white, and the supporting cast includes people of different backgrounds in ordinary jobs. The film does not present its casting as a diversity or identity statement.
0%
Woke political dialogue
Not present. Characters talk about racing, family, illness, custody, and grief. The film has no recurring speeches about modern politics, activism, or identity.
0%
Identity-driven story themes
Not present. The main conflict follows Denny’s work, family, loss, and custody fight. No character arc centers on race, gender, sexuality, or activist identity.
0%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Not present. The film shows Eve’s parents using their money and a court case against Denny. The story treats this as a personal family fight and does not connect it to modern activist criticism of family, men, or Western institutions.
0%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. The movie adapts Garth Stein’s novel but makes ordinary changes to the custody and court plot. No established character or real event is changed for identity or DEI reasons.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Not present. Public reviews and discussion focus on sadness, sentimentality, dog narration, and differences from the novel. No major anti-woke complaint about DEI, identity politics, or activist messaging appears in the reviewed coverage.
0%
Creator track record context
Simon Curtis has a cached woke score of 16/100 and is known mainly for period and human drama. Mark Bomback and Garth Stein have cached scores of 10/100 and 0/100, with no clear activist record. Most other cached crew scores are low and describe normal film work. Yesi Ramirez has a higher cached score of 33/100 because of diversity-centered industry work, but no title-related identity message is reported.
11%
Production
Movie · 2020
A widow with three children hires a handyman to fix her house during a major storm. When not doing home repairs, he shares his philosophy of believing in the power of the universe…
Movie · 2023
Mia and Kyle, two misfit American teens, travel to Spain in search of Mia's birth mother. As the pair road trip through the picturesque cities of Andalusia and fall in love, they…
Movie · 2018
Years after leaving his fiancée at the altar to pursue fame and fortune, country music star Liam Page returns home hoping to win her back.
Movie · 2018
An astronomer becomes obsessed with searching the cosmos for signs of life beyond Earth which leads to a shocking discovery.
Movie · 2016
Set against the backdrop of a beautiful garden in the heart of London, this contemporary fairy tale revolves around the unlikely friendship between a reclusive young woman and a…
Movie · 2021
Finley, a talented aspiring violinist, meets Beckett, a famous young movie star, on the way to her college semester abroad program in a small coastal village in Ireland.
Movie · 2020
The true-life story of Christian music star Jeremy Camp and his journey of love and loss that looks to prove there is always hope.
Movie · 2016
High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers.
