The Call of the Wild Parent Review and Discussion Questions (2020 Movie)

 The Call of the Wild Parent Review & Discussion Questions
Written by the Hobbit and the Queen of the Elves 2/22/2020
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Know Before You Watch

Movie: The Call of the Wild 
Rating: PG
Age Suggestion:  6+
Running Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Release Date: February 21st, 2020
Stars: 4 out of 5
Themes: Relationships between dogs and people, growing up, greed, love, loss, animal abuse, generosity, home and family
Warnings:  The movie mentions the death of a young child and the impacts of that on the characters. There are brief scenes of brutality towards animals. And as with every dog movie, bring the tissues.
Does it follow the book: Yes and no, most of the main points are the same but some of the themes and finer points of the novel are muddled. However the movie also took away some of the points of the book that were not family friendly or politically correct.

Quick Summary

The movie is a somewhat faithful retelling of a classic story many have read. Buck is a pampered dog who is kidnapped and shipped off to the Yukon. Here he faces a completely different life than the one he had known. Can Buck adapt to the new life? How will this affect him?

Keep reading for our Call of the Wild parent review.

Discussion Questions: 

1. How does Buck change from the beginning of the movie to the end? Are there things about Buck that don’t change?
2. What do Buck and Thornton discover in the end about home and family? How were their journey’s different?
3. Buck suffers abuse and both he and Thornton suffer hardship. How do they each respond to that in the movie?
4. How was Buck generous when Spitz was selfish? What other qualities made Buck different from Spitz? Who was a better leader?
5. Hal and Thornton both find gold. How did they react differently to the gold? Read 1 Timothy 6:10 together and talk about it.

Call of the Wild Parent Review
**Slight Spoilers Ahead**

Characters & Acting:

The primary character is CGI (with some motion capture), which worked well for the most part but was a bit stiff in places.  While CGI lets you do things that you otherwise cannot do, there are places where something is slightly off and you wish you were seeing a real dog. The three principal human actors – Harrison Ford, Cara Gee, and Omar Sy – all were believable and engaging.

Script & Story:

The story is family friendly and generally is consistent. The movie focuses on Buck’s current growth and does not dwell on the moments of abuse or hardship he endures. There are a few plot holes (how on earth does Hal survive?), but the story arc is well done overall. The Call of the Wild is, at its core, a story about growing up and finding home. Unlike many movies with a similar theme, the main character is an animal, not a person. Buck is forced into this journey, endures both suffering and joy, and in the end, discovers who and where he longs to be.

Film Quality:

The scenery is stunning in places, and some of the shots take your breath away. As noted earlier, there are things you can do with CGI that you probably would find difficulty filming in real life (a dog confronting a bear, as an example). So for what it was, we were impressed.

Favorite Moments:

Buck earns his place as leader of a sled team but the human in charge, Perrault,  drags him back and tries to get one of the more experienced dogs to take the lead. There are some absolutely hilarious moments here, followed by Buck taking the lead and the sled going faster than it had ever gone before. Another favorite moment is toward the end when Buck and Thornton both discover where they each need to be.

Overall Opinion:

The movie is generally faithful to the book but replaces anything that was not family friendly (for instance, the ending is similar to the book minus a good chunk of intense violence). In doing so it muddles some of London’s themes. This is generally good, but there are places where the story feels a little rushed or unfinished. 

The capacity of animals to feel love is a debated topic (maybe not among many dog owners, but in general). While not trying to convince you of any opinion, I appreciate that London, in describing the relationship between Buck and John Thornton, writes of Buck that “Love, genuine passionate love, was his for the first time.” It was a well done movie that we really enjoyed.

Have you ever been on an adventure with your pet??

What to check out next:

-If you enjoyed our Call of the Wild Parent Review then you might enjoy our review of Adventure Boyz, Sonic, Space Boy books, or the Dog Man books. 

-Interested in seeing the movie and having some awesome food? Check out the theaters at the link below.

-You can find the original book by Jack London here.

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