Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
CGI a doggone Wild distraction
Review
The Call of the Wild (PG, 100 mins) Directed by Chris Sanders Reviewed by James Croot ★★★
With all the global hand-wringing about Hollywood diversity and equality, little attention has been paid to the imminent demise of the animal actor.
From Rin Tin Tin to the Lassies, Cheetah and Bart the Bear, movie history is littered with memorable turns from a menagerie of trained performers.
However, thanks to the advent of two acronyms – CGI and Peta – the days of flesh-andblood creatures appearing on the big screen are all but over.
I blame 2002’s Scooby-Doo –if only they’d found a real great dane for the supposedly liveaction adventure.
Then there’s was the headshakingly awful Garfield movies, which had a physical dog play Odie, but created its eponymous cat via a computer.
Just last month, Robert Downey Jr’s Dolittle found himself talking to the pixelated animals, and now we have Jack London’s famous 1903 novel The Call of the Wild brought to life without a single bag of Pedigree being required on set.
To be fair, you can understand the film-makers’ reluctance to rely on the services of a st bernard-scotch shepherd cross, especially given the perils ‘‘Buck’’ encounters in the book.
However, despite them thankfully resisting the usual urge to provide him with an inner-voice, the over-expressive eyes and uncanine-like demeanour distract from what is otherwise a solid adaptation of a stirring story.
In screenwriter Michael Green’s (Alien: Covenant, TV’s American Gods) take, Buck starts out life as the pampered pooch of Californian law enforcer Judge Miller (Bradley Whitford).
Neither prairie nor kennel dog, Buck’s pedigree (or rather that of his owner) meant he was beyond reproach, no matter what shenanigans he got up to.
That all changes one night, when, having destroyed the family luncheon, Buck is consigned to the porch, from where he is dog-napped.
Transported to Skagway, Alaska, Buck joins a team of sled dogs who criss-cross the Yukon collecting and delivering the mail. Initially struggling to get to grips with the role and being a part of a pack, a beef with alpha male Spitz further reduces his chances of survival in the increasingly harsh climate.
In combination with director Chris Sanders (best-known for similarly-themed animated tales like How to Train Your Dragon and Lilo and Stitch), Green does a good job of distilling the essence of London’s story (even if the wolf-ish visions are a little on the nose), while also evoking the spirit of classic canine adventures like Old Yeller, Lassie Come Home and Benji.
Frozen lakes, avalanches, fire and ne’er-do-wells offer plenty of opportunities for doggie derringdo and, thanks to some terrific cinematography by Janusz Kaminski (Schindler’s List, War Horse), you really do get a feeling of perilous landscapes and situations. But then, you get an over-anthropomorphised moment from the Terry Notary’s (Weta’s Planet of the Apes trilogy) performance-captured Buck, which takes you out of it.
Very much a film of two halves – a breathless first act gives way to a more sedate, character-driven second – Call’s CGI shortcomings also slightly blight what is a terrific performance from Harrison Ford.
His John Thornton might have similar regrets to the J J Abrams’ version of his most famous creation, but this is a Solo performance fans of the now 77-year-old, and rarely seen, actor will – and should – relish.