Saturday, May 2, 2020

Movie #16: Call of the Wild

In elementary school, my mom read me Call of the Wild. That was until I couldn't hack it, the dog-fighting scenes got me. So, that was the end of us reading that book.

This year we've been taking near weekly five hour drives. Once, I heard they were making the Call of the Wild into a movie, I decided to get the audio book from the library. In one trip, we finished the book and were pretty hooked. Obviously, after the audio book, I really wanted to see the movie. Plus, the trailers were so good.



The movie essentially follows the life and adventures of Buck, the dog. Harrison Ford plays John Thornton, the main lead after Buck, the giant dog. It's said that the dog that they modeled Buck off of was picked up from a pet shelter in Kansas, my home state.

The movie follows Buck from a life of luxury in California as the dog of a judge. Then he gets kidnapped and sent to Alaska due to his big size, he was eyed as a sled dog. He gets purchased to be part of a dog-sled team that delivers the mail. He definitely has a learning curve. He makes friends with all the other dogs minus the lead dog, Spitz. Buck finally stands up to Spitz and leads the team. With Buck in the lead, they make record time. Just as they're hitting their stride, their lead gets a message to sell the dogs. The telegraph is on the way in and their mail delivery skills are no longer needed. The dogs are all sold together.

Eventually, the kind John Thornton rescues Buck and they have the best adventures. The scenery in the movie is breath-taking.

Thankfully, the book and movie are different; nobody wants to see dogs die from dog fighting, animal abuse, or dogs ripping out people's throats. I would've preferred an ending where everyone walks away happy, but that's not what the book or movie gave you. It did let you walk away knowing that life would go, as it should.

No comments:

Post a Comment