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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Friday 21 February 2020
Review: A CGI canine yearns to be free in ‘Call of the Wild’

want it to? tion capture performance Buck’s destiny remains
For the most part, we want by Terry Notary, who was easy to root for. And Ford,
our dog movies like our memorably ape-like in the looking happier to be on
pooches: comforting, obe- dinner scene of Ruben Os- screen than he has in some
dient and slightly slobbery. tlund’s “The Square.” The time, adds considerably
“The Call of the Wild,” the more compelling, albeit to the movie’s charm. The
latest adaptation of Jack unsettling version of “The whole thing, with Steven
London’s 1903 novel, is all Call of the Wild” may be Spielberg’s regular cinema-
those things but adds a seeing it with Notary’s Buck, tographer Janusz Kaminski
This undated image provided by 20th Century Fox shows actor new twist. Its canine is com- sans digital effects. handling photography, has
Harrison Ford as John Thornton from the film "Call of the Wild." puter generated. The movie, directed by a warm polish. But it’s also
Associated Press Whether that’s an improve- Chris Sanders (“How to thoroughly ironic to make
ment or not depends on Train Your Dragon,” “Lilo a movie about the gravita-
By JAKE COYLE Does the dog movie have how you prefer your ani- & Stitch”) and penned by tional pull of the wilderness
Associated Press any new tricks? Do we mals, digital or more down- Michael Green, takes the with so much help from
to-earth. Previous adap- basic shape of London’s computers. There is little
tations of “The Call of the adventure while boosting here, amid the high-tech
Wild,” going all the way the adrenaline whenever photorealistic animations,
back to 1923, were usu- possible. There are added that would satisfy London’s
ally done with real dogs, scenes like an underwater concept of “wild.”
including the 1935 version rescue and an avalanche. “The Call of the Wild” is the
with Clark Gable and a But it similarly sketches the first film released under the
1972 film with Charlton Hes- Pacific Northwest odyssey newly renamed Twentieth
ton. of Buck, whose sunny days Century Pictures, the studio
But movies, like sled dogs, in California end when he’s formerly Twentieth Century
run in packs. This “Call of kidnapped and shipped Fox and since acquired by
the Wild,” which co-stars north to fetch a price from the Walt Disney Co. It’s a
Harrison Ford, follows a the teaming miners of the name and logo that can
string of movies that have 1890s Klondike Gold Rush in look a little neutered, even
tried, and mostly failed, to the Yukon. Buck falls in first if “The Call of the Wild”
herd the animal kingdom with a cheerful mailman may seem like it had Disney
into the realm of CGI, in- named Perrault (Omar Sy), DNA from the start. But Dis-
cluding “The Lion King” and who teaches him to be a ney has its own formidable
“Dolittle.” And yet they’ve sled dog. new sled dog movie, too, in
still been upstaged by the There are worse own- “Togo” (starring a real dog),
genuine article. If we’re ers, too, including a posh, which recently debuted on
giving out best in show, the abusive fortune-seeker its streaming service. All of
paws-down choice of late (Dan Stevens). But Buck which is to say that today’s
has been Brad Pitt’s pit bull also repeatedly encoun- movie landscape is, as
in “Once Upon a Time ... in ters a bearded woods- ever, a dog eat dog world.
Hollywood.” man named John Thornton “The Call of the Wild,” a
It’s not that Buck, the St. Ber- (Ford) who’s both our nar- Twentieth Century Pictures
nard-Collie mix of “The Call rator and Buck’s eventual release, is rated PG by the
of the Wild,” isn’t a good master. So smart a dog is he Motion Picture Association
boy. He’s a towering, fluffy that he even noses away of America for some vio-
guy who will almost, but not the bottles of the heavy- lence, peril, thematic ele-
quite, fool you into thinking drinking Thornton, like some ments and mild language.
he’s real. He was created animal dreamed up by AA Running time: 100 minutes.
partially through a mo- and the ASPCA. Two stars out of four.q

Jennifer Lawrence to star in Adam

McKay comedy for Netflix

Associated Press ly, most recently co-starring sees this movie as a world-
NEW YORK (AP) — Jen- in last year’s “X-Men: Dark wide comedy sets the bar
nifer Lawrence will star in Phoenix.” The 29-year-old high for me and my team
the Adam McKay comedy actress took a roughly two- in an exciting and motivat-
“Don’t Look Up” for Netflix. year hiatus from acting ing way.”
The streaming giant on but has recently returned McKay’s most recently
Wednesday announced to work. She recently movie was 2018′s Oscar-
that it acquired the the wrapped production on an nominated “Vice,” star-
project. McKay, who wrote untitled film for A24 direct- ring Christian Bale as Dick
the script, will direct the film ed by Lila Neugebauer. Cheney.
about two low-level astron- “I’m so thrilled to make this “Adam has always had
omers who go on a me- movie with Jen Lawrence,” great timing when it comes
dia tour to warn of an ap- McKay said in a statement. to making smart, relevant
proaching asteroid head- “She’s what folks in the 17th and irreverent films that de-
ing for Earth. century used to call ‘a dy- pict our culture,” said Scott
Lawrence has been little namite act.’ Stuber, head of film at Net-
seen on the big screen late- And the fact that Netflix fix. q