WHAT’S IT ABOUT
Buck is a big-hearted dog whose blissful domestic life gets turned upside down when he is suddenly uprooted from his California home and transplanted to the exotic wilds of the Alaskan Yukon in the 1890s. As the newest rookie on a mail-delivery dog sled team, Buck experiences the adventure of a lifetime as he ultimately finds his true place in the world.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
For what it’s worth, The Call of the Wild is visually stunning, especially if you’re a nature buff. Throughout this film, three things stood out. The acting talents of Omar Sy as Perrault, Buck’s first Northland master. Harrison Ford as John Thornton and Buck. The story seems sincere, even if it is from the dog’s point of view. Sleigh master Perrault was an excellent high point in the film. And John Thornton (Ford) was excellent as Buck’s final friend. As beautiful as their performances were, the producers and director decided to let an animated dog carry this multi-million dollar film. Unfortunately, Buck is the problem. As far as dogs go, he’s a great and memorable character even if he is CGI. Computer graphics have never been a problem if done right. In The Call Of The Wild, the use of CGI is very inconsistent, especially when it comes to Buck. His mannerisms as an average dog are somewhat ok, but when Buck has to show facial expressions, it becomes painfully apparent he’s not real. This is a big issue whenever he has to interact with the other dogs or people, mainly Harrison Ford. I know the movie is supposed to be all about Buck, but the animators needed to make up their minds. At times, Buck’s facial expressions are so animated, he might as well be a 2D cartoon. Then, for no reason, he’s a “real” dog again. No consistency and no warning on how Buck will react makes the story hard to believe, hard to follow, and hard to watch for more than twenty minutes at a time. In other words, you’re never fully into the story unless you’re age is in the single digits, and even then, you only like it for the scenery.
OUR RATING – A GRAPHICALLY BEAUTIFUL 6.5
Media
- Genre – Adventure
- Street date
- Digital – February 21st 2019
- DVD/Blu-Ray/4K – May 12th 2019
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2:39.1
- Sound – English: Dolby Atmos, Japanese: DTS-HD HR 5.1, French: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, German: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, French-Canadian: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Descriptive Audio 2.0
- Subtitles – English SDH, German, French, French-Canadian, Japanese, Spanish
Extras
- Origins
• The On-Set Experience
• State of the Art
• The World of the Wild
• Digital Exclusive: A Man and His Dog