Review of Call of the Wild

Cute family film (yes, it can be syrupy sweet and fit for the Hallmark Channel, but I didn't really mind it too much) has rich city ten-year-old, Ry (sweetie Ariel Gade), from Boston, begrudgingly spending time with her grandfather, Mr. Bill Hale (a well cast Christopher Lloyd, wearing that graying white beard really well) in Montana snow mountain country. Concerned about her rep with the other wealthy diva counterparts, Ry learns that the petty materialistic items that aren't necessary in life aren't as important as the wealth of friendships and love, when a wounded wolf-dog finds itself at the doorstep of Hale's cabin and she helps to nurse it back to full vigor. Yes, I realize that plot description might cause cringing, but it really isn't that hard a family film to sit through, and the gorgeous snowy environs of Montana add something to the experience. Timothy Bottoms (of The Last Picture Show & The Paper Chase) is a bit much as a mean and nasty father who constantly nags and growls at his son, Ozz (Devon Graye); Ozz would never not disappoint a father who won't even buy him a pair of gloves or let him ride in the cab of his truck because the wolf-dog licked him! Bottoms is such a total asshole, he's a caricature. Lloyd and Gade have really good chemistry as grandpa and granddaughter, and "Call of the Wild" is used as a story he reads to her each night while she stays at his Montana home. Gade and the beautiful wolf-dog bond over the duration (as obvious for the plot to work) while she also befriends a local young man named Jack (Kameron Knox) who races sled dogs against Ozz in contests. Jack also has a crush (and vice versa) on a local girl named Racy (Aimee Teegarden), who works the counter at an ice cream parlor. Bottoms' Mr. Heel insists, after Ozz tells him about Buck, the wolf-dog (named by Ry thanks to the Call of the Wild, Jack London novel), that he had temporary possession of it prior to an escape from his rope around its neck. So the sheriff (played by Victoria Cartwright; Alien) agrees to a proposal by both parties to have Buck put up for grabs in a special sled race. So Ozz and Jack will compete for Buck with Gade lending her support to Buck's preparation (Jack will train Buck to be his lead dog, while Mr. Heel laughs off in mocking tone the sheer idea that it can be trained in two weeks). Wes Studi has the obligatory mystery native mountain man Gade kind of gets nervous around when he shows up in grandpa's Montana town. Studi's Hatcher seems a bit intimidating with his large Rambo-styled hunting knife and serious face but there's a heart of gold there. Hatcher once had a wolf-dog similar to Buck, so if push comes to shove he might just be the right candidate as owner to Buck when Gade must return to Boston. The plot complications are slight and predictable, and the characters have little shades of grey. Bottoms seems inhumane with little attributes on the positive side, Graye has a bit of attitude shielding a hurt son hoping that his father will cut him some slack, Lloyd remains a wholesome and supportive grandpa wanting his granddaughter to adjust to her surroundings while her parents are touring Europe, and Gade is the little girl who at first resists Montana only to fall in love with her new pet and the area that lacks satellite television. Call of the Wild is sparingly used in the film but no one in the plot is roughing it too much. The Montana locations, to me, are the major stars while the story and characters cover the familiar ground with plenty of heart to spare. While I prefer the story and characters from the Jack London novel, the Call of the Wild title does adhere slightly to this film in that Buck cannot control the kind of animal that it is…the wild does call to it. Joyce DeWitt, of Three Company fame, has a cameo as a neighbor of Hale's who complains that Buck ate two of her chickens, soon storming off in anger because the feast has little evidence of proof.