Review: The Call Of The Wild

Despite there being several versions of this classic story spanning almost 100 years, this will be my first venture.

Going into it, I was imagining something similar to White Fang.

While I don't think it was as effective or dramatic as aforementioned film, this was still a solid fun time.

It opened up nicely, laid the foundations fora promising story that reminded me a lot of Black Beauty. There was a feel-good tone with a mythical edge that I was enjoying whilst also having a mature sense of story-telling that you don't often find in a family film.
The second half does slow down sadly and while the content was still working for me, the pacing just lost some form of momentum.

The cast I felt all did a good job and fitted the tone nicely. Harrison Ford was a pleasant screen presence and seems to be comfortable in this character type as that it was he seems to be doing for the last few years.
Omar Sy is on a bit of a role at the moment with his recent projects, and this was another successes. His smile alone is worth the admission fee he had a strong sense of fun, and his portion of the film was certainly the best part. Also, Cara Gee's chemistry with Sy made it all the more enjoyable.
While I do like Dan Stevens and Karen Gillan, both of their performances felt rather over-the-top as well as unnecessary.

There were some minor negatives I had with it elsewhere.
I wasn't too into the choice of the dogs being CGI as the movement never felt natural. But I think it was needed due to certain action scenes to be fulfilled as well as the human element of the character to be added. So I guess I somewhat let them off. But there were parts of it that you just could not ignore and partly took me out of the film.
Also, it does contains small doses of cheese and corniness. But I think that was due to its old-fashioned vibe it was giving, which also made it somewhat refreshing at the same time.

So while it most definitely has its problems, I still had a solid time watching this. It's good fun, the story is well told, I like the mythology angle, it has mature themes which is rare for a family time and is not afraid to be scary or dark at the right time. I liked it for the fact that you just don't get films like this anymore, especially one that is suitable for family viewing.
Oh and of course if you like dogs, then this can comfortably win you over.

Rating: 7/10