Call of the Wild (2020)
Harrison Ford and CGI does a fake live-action remake of this Jack London classic, with quriky results.
~ Aristotle Sabouni
Created: 2020-02-23 |
While this is probably the best movie version of the story, it's still could easily be seen on the small screen. The novel captured me deeply as a kid (something about running away and discovering yourself appealed to 9 year old me), and this makes a good family film adaptation of that story. But like most movie adaptions, especially of books you loved as a kid, the story comes across shallower than the book. And the CGI tries hard, but is just a bit awkward at the start... after a while you can go with it, but it's sometimes pulled me out of the story. Still, a worthy family film.
I still wonder why Hollywood can't seem to tell a new story any more, and everything feels like a remake, sequel or borrowed from something else.
Film Critics[edit source]
If you want to see leftist bias in media, you just have to look at all the examples of how far off from their reviewers are from their viewers. I use the spread as a predictor of whether I'll like a film. Big spread with audience over critics? I'm going to like it. But big spread with critics over audience? I'll usually side with audience.
| Tatometer | Summary |
|---|---|
 |
Call of the Wild (2020) - Reviewers didn't like it but audiences appreciated it more for what it is and it got at 62/91 (reviewer/viewer split), later settling to 62/89 on Rotten Tomatoes. Independence, self reliance, a white man, traditional gender roles, a dog that doesn't resent the white wolf patriarchy, it doesn't trash American/family values? The story has nothing for the leftist reviewers to really like. |
And the story did deviate from the book, which was more violent and troubling -- but the early 1900's required children to mature quicker. The simplification and reduction in violence, make it more palatable (and sellable) to the more sensitive children of today. The Harrison (Thorton) character got Hollywood'ed a bit to make the story cheesier, and less complex... but simpler to digest and more cohesive plot, with a cleaner ending.
In the end, it is just an old classic, told in a Disney-esque fashion: feeling a little like "Lassie/Benji goes to Alaska"... in parts. But it's a classic story, and even Hollywood couldn't ruin that. One could argue the simplified and modernized adaption actually tells the story better, in the same way the cliff notes of War and Peace might be more digestible than the original, to modern audiences.
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