As it's dads 92nd birthday we went to see a movie I knew he'd love, Call of the Wild. Based on the classic novel by Jack London the movie tells the story of Buck the dog and his adventures as a comfortable city dog to a working dog in The Yukon, this is squarely aimed at the family market, playing down the cruel treatment of sled dogs and the harsh life. The CGI animals were good but didn't take me out of myself. It's schmalzy and cheesy but good fun and I shed a few tears. 3.5 stars George: A very dramatic movie with fantastic scenery of The Yukon! The animal animation was fantastic and Harrison Ford played a good role as the curmudgeonly loner. I remember reading Jack London's novels and I enjoyed this adaptation very much. 4 stars PS Meredith cried several times.

I hadn't seen any reviews for this film before watching it so the CGI threw me off for a minute. I mean it's really well done, but you have to acclimatize yourself to the fact that Buck and every other animal in the picture was computer generated. I haven't read the Jack London novel upon which the story is based, but as so often happens after I see a movie of similar circumstance, I make it a point to do so in the near future. (Which I'm currently doing with 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo').

Personally, I liked the movie, but I can understand viewers ruing the fact that it's a sanitized version of the original work. It appears that the Disney folks gave it a family friendly treatment to appeal to the youngsters in the audience, and on that basis I thought they did a good job. On the flip side, I have to wonder at the manner in which films include cultural diversity that was never a feature of the source material. A black sled driver with a Native American companion stretches credibility about as far as one can get without being silly.

I was impressed by a particular scene where Buck takes over the lead dog sled duties and averts disaster for the team and it's human counterparts. It was when he led the dogs through the icy tunnel while the avalanche overhead was hurtling down the mountainside. If I might be allowed to guess, I think I smell a new adventure ride at Disney World.

I am not sure how the story in the book goes, but the movie was great! It had adventure, beautiful scenery, laughter, and sadness. The entire film flowed well, it had intensity and kept your thoughts wanting to discover what happened next.