Newport This Week

New Version of London’s Classic Isn’t ‘Wild’ Enough

FILM REVIEW


The latest screen version of Jack London’s novel “The Call of the Wild” stars Harrison Ford as a prospector who rescues, and is rescued by a CGI dog named Buck.

The latest screen version of Jack London’s novel “The Call of the Wild” stars Harrison Ford as a prospector who rescues, and is rescued by a CGI dog named Buck.

Those who grew up on Walt Disney nature movies of the 1950s and ’60s with the triumphs and tragedies of real animals, from “Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar” to “The Incredible Journey” to “Old Yeller,” the classic responsible for so many kids falling in love with dogs and movies, will feel a nostalgic pull from the new version of “The Call of the Wild.”

There’s plenty for viewers old and young to like about this latest adaptation of Jack London’s 1903 novel, including a fine performance by Harrison Ford as a grizzled, grieving former prospector. But the fact that the central canine character, a St. Bernard-Scotch Collie mix named Buck, is strictly computer-generated will disappoint those who like their movie animals in flesh and blood.

Like last year’s “The Lion King,” Buck is startlingly life-like, from the texture of his fur to his expressive dark eyes. He is a technical marvel, but the computer-generated wizardry is at odds with an old-fashioned tale about the purity of the natural world and a domesticated dog who finds his purpose when he’s introduced to his ancestors in the wild.

Loren King is an arts and entertainment writer whose work appears regularly in The Boston Globe and other publications.

Loren King is an arts and entertainment writer whose work appears regularly in The Boston Globe and other publications.

Directed by Chris Sanders, the co-director with Dean DeBlois of “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Lilo & Stitch,” “The Call of the Wild” mixes live-action with CGI. There’s plenty of suspense and heartwarming moments to make the movie worthwhile, but the human element is largely cartoonish, except for Ford, who energizes the film once it shifts its focus to his John Thornton, a loner burdened by a loss that’s left him adrift in the Yukon of the 1890s.

When we’re first introduced to Buck, he’s a coddled pooch who wreaks havoc at the well-to-do house of an Alaska town’s judge (Bradley Whitford). Buck is stolen from his home by an evil dog snatcher because strong dogs fetch a steep price in the bustling Yukon. He lands in the town of Skagway, Alaska, where would-be prospectors are dreaming of finding gold. Buck ends up on the sled team of a patient and kind couple, Perrault (Omar Sy) and François (Cara Gee), who run a mail-delivery route for the U.S. government.

Buck quickly adapts to being part of a team and soon becomes a leader. The sledding sequences, which include an escape from an avalanche and a fall through the ice, are as slickly done as one would expect. But they are not as magical or thrilling as the nature scenes of Buck and the other dogs, such as when Buck finds his inner wolf and battles for alpha status with Spitz, the Siberian Husky. It’s a scene that plays out without dialogue or human presence, and is a reminder that “The Call of the Wild,” which has been adapted for the screen numerous times, was perhaps most effective as a 1923 silent version.

The gifted cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, best known for his work with Steven Spielberg on “Saving Private Ryan” and “Schindler’s List,” among others, brings a spellbinding mood that mixes danger and tranquility with the landscapes. Once in Skagway, Buck has a fleeting encounter with Thornton when the man drops his harmonica in the snow and the dog brings it to him. They don’t see each other again until the sinister Hal (Dan Stevens), a cartoonish movie villain in the Cruella de Vil mode, ends up buying the sled team and abusing the dogs (these few scenes might be disturbing for younger kids). Thornton rescues Buck, and here the film evolves into a tender broken man saved by the love of a good dog story, and Buck finally has a master worthy of his loyalty.

The two retreat to an old, abandoned cabin high in the mountains, where Thornton nurses his grief, often with whiskey. Buck’s instinctive care-taking is a bit much when the movie has him removing Thornton’s bottles of booze and burying them. But, O.K., Buck has developed into a character by now and we are along for the ride, aided by Ford’s winning, low-key performance.

As Thornton slowly heals, Buck finds his own inner peace by connecting with a white Timberwolf and her pack.

There’s sentimentality and predictability in the script, but these scenes come closest to the source material. As Buck spends more time in the wild, he finds his true self, and this lesson is absorbed by Thornton, who also begins to find solace despite a groan-inducing intrusion that momentarily derails the movie.

One may find it incongruous that a man-made dog is teaching lessons about the simplicity of the natural world and wish that “The Call of the Wild” had given us the real thing in an old-fashioned nature story.

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