Whenever the trailer for the new The Call of the Wild came on before any movie was watching, I was mostly left wondering why the dog in the movie was obviously CGI. Dogs can actually somewhat act. A well-trained dog can pretend to make all kinds of human emotions and other tricks, and dogs do seem to be easier to train than, say, cats like the one I have hanging around my apartment. Why have the dog in this movie as CGI? Why not use a real dog?
Having seen the movie, I might have some answers for that.
The Call of the Wild is the story of Buck, a large dog that begins as the very spoiled pet for a small town judge. Stolen from his owner, Buck soon finds himself in the much colder north, first as a sled dog and later as companion to depressed, heartbroken John Thorton (Harrison Ford), the movie’s narrator. Along the way, Buck reconnects with his wild ancestors, symbolized by a large, black wolf with golden eyes that always appears to guide Buck to some way of surviving and thriving in a less civilized environment.
Well, let’s get the obvious out of the way first: the CGI animals. Buck, as a special effect, looks good, but he is clearly not a real dog. He’s too expressive to be one, but all of the other animals in the movie are likewise CGI, and Buck at least was a partial product of motion capture. But the way Buck is used in the movie makes it appear, to me at least, that having a CGI dog helps tell the story in the style the filmmakers wanted to tell it. Jack London’s original story, I have since learned, is not really a kid-friendly book, but this movie came across as a family-friendly adventure. Buck’s story has a lot more slapstick in the first third or so of the movie, and even the most expressive canine actor may not be able to match this CGI one. It’s not a seamless effect, but I think I know why it happened the way it did. Buck does a lot of things a real dog either couldn’t, or couldn’t without accusations of animal abuse. I’m willing to play along with a special effect. Considering I’m looking forward a bit to the CGI animals of the upcoming Peter Rabbit sequel, I probably should.
And this movie is Buck’s story. True, Ford’s John has a small character arc of his own, and Ford does turn in a nice performance as an old man who’d just assume not spend time with anybody. But really, this one is Buck, seeing him go from undisciplined, rowdy housepet to a pack leader of other dogs works. True, Buck’s behavior doesn’t seem very dog-like at times, like how Buck is more willing to share his food or just catch a rabbit without killing it, but Buck may be more human than dog in a lot of ways, and that works for a movie that, as I suspect, is aimed at young children.
As for the rest of the movie, it is a fairly sanitized look at survival. Beyond Ford, there are a few other familiar faces scattered throughout the cast in small roles like Bradley Whitford, Karen Gillan, and Omar Sy, but the closest the movie has to a villain is probably played in the most over-the-top, scene-chewing style possible from Dan Stevens, but he looks like he might be having a bit of fun at times, so I don’t really mind. Likewise, the most-likely CGI landscape is used mostly well, and ultimately, I had a good time with this one. It’s not a great movie, but much like last week’s Sonic the Hedgehog, I found myself enjoying this one all the same.
Grade: B
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