As a monument in the history of American literature, Jack London's "Call of the Wild" has many film and television adaptations, but there has never been a suitable masterpiece. Of course, this is due to the limitations of the original work a hundred years ago, and grasping the viewpoint is also a thorny difficulty.
The absolute core of the story is the dog buck, but animal actors can only listen to instructions and cannot act; human actors will naturally act, but they will only interfere with Jack London’s original intention of figuring love with things.
What "Old Man and Dog" is waiting for may be the right time: the motion-captured CG animals have already crossed the Uncanny Valley, and the magnificent scenery solidified in the Yukon is no longer a difficulty in filming.
The new version of "Call of the Wild", which overcomes technical limitations, has a significant improvement in narrative methods and maintains a considerable degree of respect for the original work. It has undoubtedly become one of the best versions ever.
But at the same time, as the first film after the renaming of Fox in the 20th century, "Call of the Wild" still has many problems-some of which can be avoided (such as the deviation of creative concept), and some are regrettable that cannot be achieved. .
Nevertheless, the Disney-style is suitable for all ages, and supplemented by the blessing of ancient fortune, the 2020 version of "Call of the Wild" still does not lose its visibility.
【Overview】
Compared with the PG classification of "Call of the Wild", Jack London's original book is more cruel. These contents are mainly concentrated in the first half of the story, with Buck being abused. In the current Hollywood environment, it is obviously impossible to restore these elements visually-not to mention Disney's consistent family strategy.
On the one hand, this reflects the status of classic literary works, which is not always in line with its social progress—the same is true of Gone with the Wind, and so is Mark Twain; on the other hand, it also means that these literary works are also All have universality and transcendence, enough to bridge the gap between times and cultural backgrounds, and touch the common ground between different readers and audiences.
The adaptation of the new version of "Call of the Wild" is extremely successful; although it does not strictly follow the plot of the novel (such as the part involving Native Americans), it also retains the essence of the Jack London story to a large extent.
But for the 20th Century/Disney, the ambition of "Call of the Wild" is not only here-and this is also largely counterproductive-20th Century Fox wants to turn it into its own "Fantasy Forest" , But did not realize the nuances between "talking animals" and "human animals"; Disney has already launched the same type of "Togo" on Disney+. If it is not for cost pressure, I am afraid it will not be too much for "Call of the Wild". Live the heart.
After all kinds of compromises, perhaps only Fu Bo has won a big victory; this is the second time he has had close contact with dogs in a year-during the publicity period of "The Secret Life of Pets 2", you can still see Fu Bo Long hair style-even the dog's style is very similar.
【Production】
Whether it is Disney or the 20th century studio, they are no strangers to CG animals: the former has successively achieved technical achievements such as "Fantasy Forest" and "The Lion King" in the wave of classic animation remakes, while the latter is the sacrifice of Andy Serkins's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" trilogy of "not being a man".
But in terms of "Call of the Wild" with an investment of up to 135 million US dollars, using CG to shape the protagonist is not a very good idea. Only Disney+ has its own CG-based "Miss and the Tramp" and "Togo" using real animals. Considering the investment and harvest evaluation of the two, it is obvious which is better.
However, Hollywood, which cherishes time and fate, will not spend a few years training dogs and wolves for a story of a hundred-year-old age-only efficiency is not focused in the eyes, and it is absolutely impossible to shoot a "dog totem". .
The Buck of "Call of the Wild" is CG generation (the prototype is a mixture of St. Bernard and Shepherd, which is the same as "A Dog's Mission"), and the actions and expressions are from live-action actor Terry Notari. With his rich performance experience and technical accumulation, Buck appears to be extremely expressive, able to successfully convey a sense of thrill in a large number of CG action scenes, and avoid the potential ethical problems of using real animals.
However, too many facial expressions have greatly reduced the credibility of the story. Michael Green’s script downplayed the wildness and complexity of Jack London’s original work, from the reverence of life and nature to "human and dog love"; while the CG animator and Terry Notta The performance here has given Buck excessive human qualities, even more similar to the Disney standard cartoon image, rather than a real dog with an independent soul.
What "The Call of the Wild" contains is an externally humanized interpretation of the incomprehensible existence. Too many artificial traces are undoubtedly fatal for a story that wants to return to nature.
【Performance】
The era most suitable for "The Call of the Wild" has passed; in the bewildered and boring 90s, the love for nature and the wild may inspire greater enthusiasm and repercussions-if you can find the "Legend of Autumn" period Director Edward Zwick, and even recalled the late composer James Horner, this version of "Call of the Wild" may really become the animal epic it wants to be.
Director Chris Sanders from "How to Train Your Dragon" is not a bad choice; many of his colleagues have not been smooth sailing when switching from animated films to live-action movies-such as Andrew Stanton and Brad S. Bird, generously pitted Disney's "Alien Battlefield" and "Tomorrowland"-his familiarity with CG technology did not prevent the movie from finding a strong narrative power (after all, the "How to Train Your Dragon" series is just for the script There are high requirements).
However, it was CG that caused the old driver to overturn the car: the Buck effect in the close-up and close-up shots is acceptable. Once it comes to the mid-to-long-range and fast-moving scenes, the quality of the CG rendering quickly drops to an annoying level, and the texture and clarity are reduced. The exaggerated expressions and forms were quickly cartoonized, and they failed to give a response commensurate with the performance of real actors, especially Fu Bo.
Speaking of Forber, as Buck’s last owner, Thornton, he did not appear until nearly halfway through the film, but he undoubtedly became a pillar of existence, making "big cousins" Dan Stevens and Karen · Gillan’s performance is as funny as a paper man. As early as in the "Star Wars" era, Fauber had convincing non-physical performances and rival dramas with non-human characters, and he was still in his eighty year old.
It is no exaggeration to say that all the highlight moments of "The Call of the Wild" come from his rough and soft performances.
Among the Hollywood male stars of his generation, Jack Nicholson has been inactive for ten years, Dustin Hoffman and Morgan Freeman, as well as Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in "The Irishman" Before, there were no starring movies in the past 10 years.
Although the rhetoric of "watch one less one" has been used too much, Fober's extremely high-quality performance is still commendable.
【Summarize】
In addition to the excessive animal effects, the biggest shortcoming of "Call of the Wild" comes from its ambition. Although the CG effect is so active that it is distracting (it might be better to swap with "The Lion King" last year), Steven Spielberg's royal photography, Janusz Kaminsky is capturing nature The achievements in the scenery are still worthy of recognition, and even to some extent alleviated the imbalance in the layout of the story.
In contrast, the small narrative space of the movie has a strange chemical reaction between the ubiquitous PG-level sensationalism, and John Powell's plain soundtrack has failed to neutralize it.
Nevertheless, the new version of "The Call of the Wild" is a qualified literary classic adaptation of the film; whether it is to pull children into a pit to reread the original, or to provide parents with visual materials to trigger nostalgia, the partners of Forber and CG Doggo are both competent. .
But compared to the exquisite pictures carved by hand, if the true courage of one person and one dog can be found, this is the true response to the "call of the wild".
View more about The Call of the Wild reviews
