The Call Of The Wild

This review may contain spoilers!

Dog movies don't tend to be very good as a rule, but when you swap out a real dog for a CGI stand-in then you're just asking for trouble. I would give The Call Of The Wild a 3.5/10.

The Call Of The Wild follows Buck, a suburban crossbreed who was raised in California but is abducted from his home and spirited to Alaska to be sold. There Buck forms a bond with a dog-sled team, helps a lonely hermit and finds his calling with the wild Yukon wolf packs. This film has the boundless charm that most dog films possess, a protagonist who is undeniably charismatic and likeable. Buck is a very expressive animal character and has a simple journey of character growth that is easy enough to follow. I think the film has a casual approach to a thrilling adventure, which is nice in the way it invites you to take in everything it has to show along the way. The cinematography and special effects for the film I'm quite torn over for a number of reasons, the camera work looks really good when we're chewing the scenery somewhat. While the special effects have a few noteworthy moments too; such as the avalanche scene, some computer-generated scenery and the wild wolf spirit that recurs as a symbol throughout the feature.

The best performance came from Harrison Ford, who played John Thornton. Thornton acts as the voice and the guide to the film, providing narration in a world-weary tone that gives a sort of legend to Buck's story. I really enjoyed watching Ford play this honourable hermit, a man who had lost himself to the wilds of the Yukon and couldn't rekindle with civilisation. There was a very real sense of honour to Thornton in the way he treated others, particularly the canine characters. I think the deep sad he had over his deceased son was a nice subtext throughout that Ford played to very well. I loved seeing the joy and companionship between this role and Buck, a lot of the film was put squarely on Ford's back to deliver and no one can say he didn't do his part.

The Call Of The Wild is a slow feature that offers up brief anecdotes in the leading canine's story, none of which have particularly much to say and containing little to surprise the viewer. The framework for most dog features is maintained; the main character drifts from owner to owner, situation to situation; along the way encountering the best and worst of humanity while forever remaining the best possible depiction of man's best friend. The film begins pushing the idea that Buck is going to venture into the wild from very early on and so a number of the plot points feel so minor and insignificant that you don't much care what happens one way or the other. The film tries to construct some kind of message about gold prospection in the Yukon and man's greed for wealth but it never commits enough to this aspect of the story for it to actually be interesting. The cinematography comes across as a slave to the visual effects more often than not, making for quite a static visual experience with few creative shots. The special effects for most of the animals in the feature is terrible, the dogs especially don't look very real and you can't see very much reason for having foregone the genuine article. The score for the film feels light and like it was made in a very simplistic manner, the melodies are unisnpired and I have heard music score for movies like this plenty of times beforehand.

Omar Sy and Cara Gee, who played Perrault and Françoise respectively, don't make a strong mark as the first major human owners in the Yukon storyline; Sy tries his best to be passionate but her overdoes things a bit, while Gee seems perfectly content slipping into the background of scenes. Dan Stevens and Karen Gillan, who played Hal and Mercedes respectively, give some of the worst performances of their careers as the film's antagonists; Stevens in particular is hard to watch as a cartoonish sinister and cruel prospector who hates Thornton and the canine characters.