Let us not kid ourselves, Harrison Ford is not a stranger to
partnering with a dog on screen. Look, I am not insulting Chewbacca…he was
inspired by George Lucas’ Alaskan Mameluke, which was called Indiana, which was
Ford’s name in The Raiders of The Ark.
To summarise that, Ford has now been paired again with a furry
canine which was based on a dog that has the same name as Ford in Raiders Of
The Lost Ark and the sequels. Get it? Are we clear? Can we move on? Wait…ah,
fudge it!
That’s right, based on my curse word, you can safely assume
that this is a very safe flick. It was produced by Disney and you are assured
of the best cute, heart-warming, fuzzy, hot cocoa during cold night moments in
this film. If you like a movie about a man and his relationship with a dog, in
this case, a St Bernard collie.
There is no excessive violence, no curse words, no strong
tension….and what will intrigue you if you haven’t been watching CGI creatures
the last three decades is that the dog is entirely computer-generated.
Speaking of the three decades, if you are like me, there is
a tendency for you to notice the slight unnatural movement or the overtly
natural facial expressions on the big dog. You might be finicky, anal in the
beginning, but like me, I hope, you will get along with the story and will love
the big doggy.
I am not a dog lover by any chance, I am a cat person, which
means I am evil naturally. But that’s a story for another day, and I tell you
this: Ford works well with furry creatures. I mean, working with a “walking
carpet”, reacting to it as humanely as possible is one thing, but spending shitload
of time being intimate with a tennis ball at the end of the stick is another
entirely.
There was easy chemistry between Ford and the doggy as it
developed over time…as the furry one slowly melts the crusty old man’s heart.
The dog itself starts to develop its character in front of us and manages to
sit in well in our consciousness as a lovable creature that was lost in the
beginning and was leading in the end.
I admit that being a non-dog lover (no, not a hater), I took
some time to warm up to Buck, the dog. But the team behind its pixelated creation
managed to pull off the most unbelievable thing, they actually made it have strong
chemistry with Ford’s character so much so that you will get emotional at
crucial moments.
I have not read Jack London’s novel, so I can’t quite talk
about how faithful it is…that is beside the point. The film was lovingly shot,
in a gold rush era winter, and is about how this dog, starting out meek like and
later err…mans up to the point that it was able to lead a team of sledge-pulling
fellow CGI dogs. You may form an attachment to the CGI dog as Ford has, but I couldn’t
help but remind me that it was not real…that is not helpful information,
or it would have made the experience much more fun and emotional as it was
supposed to as the movie started to close in on Ford’s relationship with it.
And so, I have a mixed feeling about this film. It is a wonderfully
warm film about the relationship between man and dog if you haven’t seen other
wonderfully warm firm about the relationship between man and dog. And as a fan
of Ford’s…. I felt he was okay but too iconic in our eyes to see him especially
in vulnerable spots. But that’s my fault.
And so, the heart-warming aspect will tickle your fancy,
especially kids though they may find some part boring. Otherwise, this is not
an award-bait film, and neither is it going to be remembered when Ford gets his
Lifetime Achievement Award…oh, he got it already. Damn.
No comments:
Post a Comment