The Call of the Wild

Literary purists may find this take on London's classic a bit too much of a departure from the novel, but for families, it's a beautiful film about the rough and rewarding path that is life. More than a century after London wrote his tale of a spoiled dog who's abducted to work in the Yukon, audiences don't need coaching to understand that mistreating animals is wrong, and filmmakers are very unlikely to put images of animal cruelty on the big screen. But at the same time, the "emotional dog movie" has become its own genre of late, with Hollywood releasing two or three films a year that use canines to teach us how to be human. Unlike most of those other films, The Call of the Wild -- thankfully -- gives us a hero dog who doesn't die. And there's so much to be gained from the lessons Buck learns, lessons that could be unfamiliar to some of today's more insulated kids: Life is unfair, but if you lean in rather than check out, you'll conquer its arduous but rewarding journey.

In fact, life at the turn of the 20th century was so different from life in 2020 that the film provides for -- if not requires -- thoughtful conversations with kids about issues both moral and factual. (Get ready to be asked why Canadians are running the mail service in Alaska -- the answer, of course, is because the Yukon is not in Alaska.) On the other hand, kids might tell you all about the gold rush, if it's something they've learned about in school. The fact that the film relies on computer-animated animals is also worthy of examining. The movie industry has been woken up to the idea that using animals in TV and films may not be ethical: Even when they're treated well, humans are still forcing animals to work without their consent. Since The Call of the Wild is about dogs being forced to work, sometimes under brutal, life-threatening conditions, it was a good call to use computer-generated creatures rather than face allegations of hypocrisy. Yes, you may be constantly aware that these dogs aren't the real deal, but they're so expressive, and they can wordlessly communicate with the audience. Ford, on the other hand, is as authentic as they come. In playing John Thornton, he's given us the guy we believe him to be: a little cranky, a little wise, and a whole lot of wonderful.