Fluke is a 1995 film, directed by Carlo Carlei and starring Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Nancy Travis, Max Pomeranc and the voice of Samuel L. Jackson. Bill Cobbs, Ron Perlman, and Jon Polito co-star. It was based on the novel of the same name by James Herbert.
Synopsis
Centered on a puppy named Fluke (voiced by Sam Gifaldi, and played by Golden Retrievers), who has flashing memories and dreams of a human life. He is raised by a homeless woman named Bella (Collin Wilcox Paxton), who gives him the name Fluke.
After Bella dies of old age and poor conditions, he befriends a street-wise St. Bernard-like dog named Rumbo (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson). During this time as he matures into an adult dog (now voiced by Matthew Modine), and he eventually realizes that he used to be a workaholic named Thomas P. Johnson (also portrayed by Matthew Modine) who died in an auto accident.
Fluke is then abducted by a man named Sylvester (Ron Perlman) to be used in illegal animal experiments. During the tests, Rumbo comes to the rescue. Rumbo is shot by Sylvester as he and Fluke escape. A dying Rumbo tells Fluke that the black and white snapshot of a man in a sailor suit at Bert's place, a man who feeds Fluke and Rumbo, was him. He also told that as a human, Bert (Bill Cobbs) was his brother and that he wishes to smell the sea again, possibly died in duty.
He seeks out his wife (Nancy Travis) and son (Chris LaMance) and reunites with them as their dog. Fluke tries to show them who he used to be, at the same time suspecting that his human death was caused by his business partner Jeff Newman (Eric Stoltz). It's during his time among them as a dog that he gets to know his family better and bitterly realizes that he was an emotionally distant workaholic.
His stay with them doesn't work out, and he comes close to killing Jeff, but at the last minute has a flashback and realizes that Jeff wasn't involved in his death - his death was caused by his own recklessness. Fluke makes one final attempt to point out to his wife who he really is (by digging away the snow covering his tomb stone and pointing out his name there). With a heavy heart, he decides it's better to move on -- the man he used to be is dead and gone, and so leaves his family, never seeing them again. He also learns that life is simply meant to be cherished, regardless how one lives it.
Far away and months, or possibly years later, Fluke is resting under a tree by himself. To his surprise, he encounters Rumbo, who is now reincarnated as a squirrel.
Reception
Reviews of Fluke were mostly negative, with film review website Rotten Tomatoes tallying only 38% of its collected reviews as positive, giving the film a label of "Rotten". However, both Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave it thumbs up[1]. In conjunction with negative reviews, Fluke also underperformed at the box office, generating just under $4 million dollars in the American box office[2]. Despite both critical and commercial failure, Fluke was nominated in 1996 by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for Best Fantasy Film and Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Max Pomeranc
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