The Call of the Wild (2020)

I think whoever put together the trailers for Call of the Wild deserves some credit.  They did the best they could with what they had.  It looked like they were told to make it look like an exciting movie, but couldn’t quite pull it off.  The same goes for the movie.  There are parts of it that have some excitement and drama, but the movie doesn’t quite pull it off.

The narrative follows Buck, the large St. Bernard–Scotch Collie you may have seen in said trailer.  He starts the movie living in the mansion of Judge Miller in California.  Buck is abducted and sold to a team delivering mail.

The team of dogs is eventually sold to another group, led by a man named Hal.  Hal knows that there’s gold out there and intends to use the dogs to find it.  The dogs will have no part of it, though, as Hal would lead them down a dangerous path.

Buck finally ends up with John Thornton.  The two set off to find gold, sort of like Hal, except they happen to find it.  Both Buck and John come to terms with their respective pasts.  That might mean finding something in Buck’s case or letting go of something in John’s case.

You’d think with a story like this, there would be some excitement.  There was, but what few scenes the movie had were few and far between.  It was mostly pretty boring.

Part of the problem for me was that there was no real permanent antagonist.  When Buck is abducted, he’s abused.  Buck manages to escape that and is cared for by the people delivering mail.  Yet, Buck has an alpha dog to contend with.  We know this will be resolved in short order.

Instead of one main person to hate, Buck is dealt some obstacles to overcome.  It gets to the point where we don’t even get to see Buck rebel against Hal.  Hal leaves with the team of dogs only to tell John about it later in the movie.

I suppose the case could be made that the antagonist is Buck’s insecurity.  Even with that, there doesn’t seem to be a defining scene where Buck confronts that.  There’s no point where we can say that Buck is now confident.

And yes, Buck did look just a little fake.  When he’s running or laying down, he looks real enough.  He’s modeled on a real dog.  My problem is with the facial expressions.  They look a little too anthropomorphic.  They definitely don’t look like they belong on a dog.

This isn’t a great film.  I would debate it being a good film.  It’s notable only for the CGI, which was not perfect.  I think there’s a strong case to be made here for maybe reading the book, instead.

IMDb page

 

Lilo & Stitch (2002)

I remember having an image, fairly or not, of the 1960s being a time of nuclear families.  You had a mother and a father.  They had two or three kids together and the father was usually in charge.  Things had changed by the time I was growing up in the 1980s.  In elementary school, I remember a kid once asking me which parent I lived with.  When I said both, he assumed I meant they had joint custody.  It wasn’t uncommon for parents to be divorced or even remarried.  The definition of family was different from what I had seen in older shows.

Nani and Lilo lost their parents in a car accident.  Nani, being the older sister, took it upon herself to raise Lilo, but it‘s not easy.  Nani has to be the responsible one when all Lilo wants is her sister back.  Lilo seems aggressive towards her friends, fighting with at least one of them.  Nani decides that it might be a good idea for Lilo to get a dog.

It’s about that time that Experiment 626 lands on Earth.  He was designed to attack major cities, causing all sorts of havoc.  His main drawback is that he’s too dense to swim.  It’s ironic, then, that he should land on an island with no major cities.  It is, however, the island that Nani and Lilo live on.  After being run over by a truck, Experiment 626 is presumed dead or near death, but is taken to the local dog shelter, anyway.  This is where Lilo decides to adopt 626 and name him Stitch.

Stitch was created in a lab by Jumba.  As such, Stitch doesn’t have a family.  Lilo at least has memories to fall back on.  Stitch just has an irrepressible urge to destroy stuff.  He even makes Lilo’s room to look like San Francisco just so he has something to knock down.  Lilo takes it upon herself to teach Stitch better.

The movie is somewhat predictable.  Stitch can’t help but cause trouble for Lilo and Nani.  Many of his actions might be amusing if it weren’t for the presence of Mr. Cobra Bubbles, a tough social worker that’s checking up on Nani and Lilo.  The pressure’s on to look perfect.  If not, Mr. Bubbles will take Lilo away.  This is why it’s a big deal that Stitch leads to Nani getting fired.

The presence of Jumba doesn’t make things easier.  Jumba is sent to earth to get his experiment back.  He’s told not to harm humans, but that doesn’t stop him from making a scene or two.  It also doesn’t stop him from leaving a mess that makes Nani look bad.  It would seem that Lilo has found a kindred spirit in Stitch, but Stitch is proving to be more trouble than he’s worth.  Even Lilo has to recognize that.

It isn’t until Captain Gantu arrives that things come to a head.  Gantu was the one originally tasked with transporting Stitch to be exiled on an asteroid.  Gantu manages to capture Stitch.  In the process, Lilo is imprisoned in the same container.  Stitch escapes, leaving Lilo to be taken away by Gantu.  Stitch takes it upon himself to get Lilo back.

As you might imagine, the movie is geared towards younger audiences.  The big thing to watch for is cartoon violence.  There’s one big gun fight between Jumba and Stitch, which is the worst of it.  There are a few scenes where Stitch talks in his native language, only to have other characters gasp.  We can’t understand what Stitch is saying, so nothing falls on small ears.  Even the death of the sisters’ parents is handled well.  All that’s said is that they went out for a drive one night while it was raining.

Both of the titular characters are ugly ducklings of sorts.  Neither seems to be wanted, but both seem to take to each other.  (In Stitch’s case, maybe it takes a little longer.)  It’s a fun movie.  Many adults will probably see things coming.  Mr. Bubbles is there mainly to create tension, so it’s expected that Stitch will do things to jeopardize Nani’s status as guardian.  Nani tries, but Stitch is not meant to be helpful.  He’s meant to be destructive.

I hope I haven’t turned anyone off from the movie.  It is fun.  Despite being geared towards children, it can be fun for adults, too.  I know there are those out there that will be sold on it simply because it’s Disney.  The movie has the watercolor look of the older films, which is good.    I’ve seen the movie several times over the years and it holds up well.  I wish I could get more movies like this.

IMDb page