Just saw this movie, it's like the twentieth adaption of Jack London's 1903 novel of the same name and one of his two most famous novels, the other one being White Fang which is basically the inverse of this story.
And what is the story? Buck, a giant St. Bernard/Collie mix (and a CGI dog for this film) lives a spoiled life of luxury in California before being abducted by some thieves due to the demand for strong sled dogs to haul freight up in Alaska/Yukon during the 1890's Klondike Gold Rush. And the story follows Buck's adventures up there.
It was a pretty decent movie actually. Having read the original novel and then seeing that this movie was PG, I assumed it would take some extensive liberties from the source material since the novel has some stuff that would run contrary to how this movie was marketed as a pretty heartwarming, family friendly, children of all ages type of marketing campaign it had. I didn't mind the CGI dog too much and while there was a bit of 'anthropomorphizing' it fit in fairly well with the film itself.
The characters and story are sweet, and the drama and story is nice, but it's jarring when it shifted between the two. The movie was pretty uneven... shifting between comedy and drama and danger and silliness pretty awkwardly and at times it did feel like it was trying to choose between being a silly and even cheesy kids movie to something far more serious and profound. These problems however did fade away as the movie went on and when the relationship between Buck and Harrison Ford's character Jack Thornton developed. The film had a great third act and stripped of the comedy and slapstick pieces, would've almost made you wish that maybe the third/final act could've been a movie on its own even though the previous portion of the movie was far from bad.
Still it was a good movie in the end and throughout it was a good Kids movie with lots for them and the adults to like about it but also a lot of sad bits as well with the themes of loss and death and separation and the like. But it was always done for solid dramatic effect, as opposed to just being grim for the purpose of manufactured drama. CGI Dog or not you'd have to have a very cold heart not to have the movie warm your heart a little bit with all of the feels it throws at you.
Overall I'd recommend it if your any bit interested in seeing the film and especially so since I'm not much into watching 'Dog' movies in general and despite the liberties it took to adapt the book to a PG rated Kids movie.
And what is the story? Buck, a giant St. Bernard/Collie mix (and a CGI dog for this film) lives a spoiled life of luxury in California before being abducted by some thieves due to the demand for strong sled dogs to haul freight up in Alaska/Yukon during the 1890's Klondike Gold Rush. And the story follows Buck's adventures up there.
It was a pretty decent movie actually. Having read the original novel and then seeing that this movie was PG, I assumed it would take some extensive liberties from the source material since the novel has some stuff that would run contrary to how this movie was marketed as a pretty heartwarming, family friendly, children of all ages type of marketing campaign it had. I didn't mind the CGI dog too much and while there was a bit of 'anthropomorphizing' it fit in fairly well with the film itself.
The characters and story are sweet, and the drama and story is nice, but it's jarring when it shifted between the two. The movie was pretty uneven... shifting between comedy and drama and danger and silliness pretty awkwardly and at times it did feel like it was trying to choose between being a silly and even cheesy kids movie to something far more serious and profound. These problems however did fade away as the movie went on and when the relationship between Buck and Harrison Ford's character Jack Thornton developed. The film had a great third act and stripped of the comedy and slapstick pieces, would've almost made you wish that maybe the third/final act could've been a movie on its own even though the previous portion of the movie was far from bad.
Still it was a good movie in the end and throughout it was a good Kids movie with lots for them and the adults to like about it but also a lot of sad bits as well with the themes of loss and death and separation and the like. But it was always done for solid dramatic effect, as opposed to just being grim for the purpose of manufactured drama. CGI Dog or not you'd have to have a very cold heart not to have the movie warm your heart a little bit with all of the feels it throws at you.
Overall I'd recommend it if your any bit interested in seeing the film and especially so since I'm not much into watching 'Dog' movies in general and despite the liberties it took to adapt the book to a PG rated Kids movie.
