Two out of
Five stars
Running time:
87 mins
Aimed squarely at the very young, this cute animation still feels far too rushed to spend any significant time on. Matters are made worse by the plethora of far better options being readily available on screen.
What’s it all about?
Wolves and best friends Kate and Humphrey come from different ends of the pack: she is the alpha daughter of the pack leader and her future seems destined to involve hunting with little time for fun; he, on the other hand, is an omega, which gives him plenty of opportunity to mess around with his friends whilst having very little responsibility. With food scarce and the threat of attack from another pack of wolves imminent, Kate reluctantly agrees to an arranged marriage to Garth (the son of another pack leader) to maintain the peace and attempt to unite the two opposing sides.
Humphrey finally realises his true feelings for Kate, but everything is against him. To make matters worse the pair are soon captured by humans and sent to another park many miles away in an attempt to repopulate the area with wolves. They agree to work together to get back home, and enlist the help of two geese who appear to be on a nationwide golf tour. Will this road trip prove to be the making of a wonderful friendship and can they get back in time to stop the warring factions tearing one another apart?
The Good
The combination of 3D and colourful animation does look family friendly, and there is very little to offend even the most prudish of viewers, so if you want a no-worries cinema experience, this might be the one for you.
The Bad
Although the film is cute, it still feels surprisingly rough and ready. The 3D adds little to the action, but at least it isn’t too distracting. Some of the voices feel very out of place though, and it’s very sad indeed that this film is one of the last in the cinema career of screen legend Dennis Hopper.
The central concept itself feels flawed, as loved-up wolves travelling around the barren landscape is never going to have much attention-grabbing capacity. The plot is also very basic (and that’s putting it kindly). There is none of the emotion that Pixar manages to garner with such ease, nor is there the humour that DreamWorks can conjour up with talking-animal features. Oh, and the musical interludes? Just say no kids, just say no.
Worth seeing?
Not really. With the likes of other kids’ films on general release at the moment, you’d only really opt for Alpha and Omega if the other screens were full.