Based on Jack London's novel first published in 1903, this book has been the homework for many junior high and high school English students. The Call of the Wild centers on a mischievous domestic dog who is kidnapped from his home, taken to the outskirts of Canada, and sold as a sled dog to work in the unforgiving winter of the Yukon Territory during the Gold Rush of the 19th century. As various humans pass through his life, the dog learns perseverance and courage in the differing faces of danger and gradually embraces his wild ancestral nature. This book is based on the author's own experiences working as a gold prospector in uncharted areas of Canada.
What sets this film adaptation apart from the numerous others in the past (a total of 5 adaptations into theatrical films, TV films, and a TV series) is its heavy use of CGI (computer generated imagery). All the animals were shown through CGI mainly to give the protagonist dog a wider range of facial expressions. And these facial expressions were used often to help tell the story and psychological maturation of the film's hero. But many of these facial expressions were simultaneously subtle and over the top, because the expressions appeared natural in the movie....but I've never seen any dog make these facial expressions in real life. Sometimes these expressions got so extreme, the dog leaned into anthropomorphic territory. The anthropomorphizing of this dog almost became the nucleus of the film because it was such a big part of the storytelling. This issue of balanced (or imbalanced) CGI use in The Call of the Will comes at an interesting time when a lot of audience criticism has been focused on the CGI of recent films The Irishman, Cats, and Sonic the Hedgehog.
Enormous picturesque views of the Rocky Mountain wilderness and the Northern Lights are so saturated with color and so idealized it felt like a visualization of the film's emotional tone, because the emotional tone was also highly idealized and saturated with a joyful innocence throughout. So much CGI, so much pristine natural beauty, and so much happiness made the film feel excessively narrow. (Are winter adventures always this fun and this pretty with so little adversity and pain?) But all these elements actually worked nicely for most of the film since The Call of the Wild is clearly directed at children and young readers who know the book.
While not being superb, The Call of the Wild wasn't a disaster either. It was okay. I just wish the film didn't try to so hard to evoke emotion and drama.
