It’s easy to see why Jack London’s classic novel The Call of the Wild has been adapted into a movie so many times (this is the sixth).
From the incredible landscapes of a wild and untouched Yukon to the storyline urging all of us to reconnect with our inner adventurer, it’s a story that screams Big Screen!
It features a spoiled Saint Bernard forced to discover his inner animal in the tough world of 1903 Yukon, and a grieving father attempting to complete the adventure his son never could.
It’s all about looking past what society says you should care about (in 1903 that meant GOLD!) and reconnecting with what’s real – nature, the wild and each other.
So, naturally, nothing in this film is real. That’s right, The Call of the Wild was shot in a studio in Los Angeles, California. The mountains, the rapids, the forests, those incredible skylines and, wait for it, the dogs themselves, are all computer creations.
It takes a few minutes to realize there’s something not quite right about leading pup Buck. He runs just a little too fast, moves just a little too awkwardly, and his fur —well let’s just say it doesn’t inspire a good ruffling.
The backdrops don’t do much better – if they’re stationary you can be fooled for a moment, but as soon as the action starts to move they give themselves away.
That the filmmakers managed to remove the soul of a story that’s lasted because it continues to move people after more than a century is a pretty impressive feat, but it’s made all the more disappointing because Harrison Ford’s performance as John Thorton is solid and moving.
A man of few words (Harrison’s got a knack for that) with a chip on his shoulder and a cage around his heart – John’s bond with Buck the dog brings him back to life after the death of his son. (I’d say spoiler alert but the story’s a century old and anyone who has ever been lucky enough to love a dog will understand just how powerful that is).
The fact that Ford was actually bonding with a tennis ball on a stick makes his performance that much more impressive, and the waste of a film that much more tragic.
One final note: while the movie is touted as an adventure film for all ages, people treated dogs very differently in 1903 than they do now. They’re whipped and beaten and worked into the ground in this film. It’s difficult to watch, even when you know they’re not real dogs and not really being hurt.
Children will be as heartbroken by the treatment of the dogs as Jack London would be by this treatment of his story. Consider yourself warned.
Vicky Sparks is a Bright’s Grove native and movie critic for Global TV’s The Morning Show, which airs nationally on Fridays. Journal Reviews cover movies playing at Galaxy Cinemas Sarnia