Buck stands out from the pack

 THE CALL OF THE WILD (2020)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

It is hard to fathom a bad cinematic version of Jack London's 1903 novel, "The Call of the Wild," and this new 2020 version is not bad at all. In fact, there are many stunning sequences of the Yukon Territory by way of California and CGI-filled soundstages but this film version just as often feels hampered by Buck, the dog who is a complete CGI creation. If you are going to use CGI animation for dogs, you better animate everything else. It gives new definition to the phrase "standing out from the pack."

Buck is a big husky dog, a mix of Saint Bernard and Scotch Shepherd, who also creates havoc with his current owners when he devours an entire six-course meal! The otherwise friendly dog is punished by staying outdoors during a cold, rainy night and is eventually kidnapped and abused with a club (readers of the book, beware because there is much of that in the beginning - book is tougher on Buck). He is shipped by freighter from California to Alaska where he is to be among a sled of dogs delivering mail. Buck is uncertain at first, then eventually he finds his footing as he runs along with the other dogs through miles and miles of treacherous ice and snow. The jaunty Perrault (Omar Sy) and his largely reserved partner Francoise (Cara Gee) are the mail runners and every sequence of the dog sledding, as it dissolves from night to day, is flawlessly done. Yet oddly there is not much urgency, especially when Francoise almost drowns in ice water with Buck rescuing her (he rescues dogs and people in danger and can kill easily, all mentioned in the book). The lack of urgency and panic is due to the animated Buck and I largely felt unconvinced that this was a real dog. As I mentioned earlier, if the whole film had been animated, it could have worked but combining the live action elements deters our emotional attachment no matter how well animated the dog is. The other sled dogs are also animated yet they seem more convincing, maybe because they are not replete with facial expressions every few seconds. 

A long white-bearded Harrison Ford as Thornton truly makes for a compelling frontiersman and he has an uncanny ability in making us believe all this is happening. Still, when you consider that past filmed versions of Jack London's novel have used real dogs, it makes me wonder why they couldn't do the same here. Save for some amazing scenery (though I wished they actually shot in the Yukon) and the magnetic Ford, I was too underwhelmed by this movie. It is adequate entertainment but the CGI Buck just didn't help to suspend my disbelief.