Alpha and Omega

A movie like Alpha and Omega really makes you appreciate how far animated films have come, both in visuals and in terms of quality of writing. This is not really a bad movie. There are a couple charming moments, and young kids will definitely like it, though I doubt they'll be enthusiastic about it. It is, however, flatly drawn and animated. And the characters, while agreeable, don't stand out in any way. It's a pleasant, but very uninspired, film all around.

One thing I did appreciate is that the movie does not take the expected environmental stance, nor does it it make humans out to be evil. Even when hunters do show up, they have good intentions, and don't want to actually hurt the lead animal characters. They just want to transport them to a different area. As the film opens, we're introduced to two rival wolf packs that are competing against each other for the caribou that roam the land. Food is running scarce for both packs, and rather than fight each other over the caribou, the pack leaders Winston (voice by Danny Glover) and Tony (Dennis Hopper in his final role) decide to unite their two groups with the marriage union of their two lead "alphas" - Winston's daughter, Kate (Hayden Panettiere) and Tony's son, Garth (Chris Carmack). As you would expect, Kate is nervous about this, but her mother (Vicki Lewis) has some good advice when she tells her, "Any fooling around, go for the throat, and don't let go until the body stops shaking".

According to this movie, wolf packs are divided into two separate classes - Alphas and Omegas. The Alphas are the hunters and leaders of the pack, while the Omegas seem to be the slackers. They spend their days playing and sliding down hills in hollowed out logs. Not a bad gig, if you ask me. The main Omega character is Humphrey (Justin Long). He's longed for Kate since they were kids, but it's apparently forbidden in the packs for Alphas and Omegas to get together. The mating ceremony between Kate and Garth begins, and it ends up being a disaster, because Garth can't howl. Apparently, that's how wolves prove their love for each other, kind of like the singing penguins in Happy Feet. Kate runs off, bumps into Humphrey, and as the two begin talking, they're rudely interrupted by a pair of tranquilizer darts in the rear, which knocks them both out. The hunters who capture them ship them off to a tranquil forest in Idaho, where Kate and Humphrey are expected to repopulate the area.

Alpha and Omega turns into a road trip movie at this point, and a fairly mild one, as Kate and Humphrey attempt to find their way back home to Jasper National Park in Canada. They hitch a ride in the back of a trailer, board a train, have a brief run-in with some bears, and that's about it. There's a lack of suspense and danger in the journey, so it's hard to get involved. Comic relief is provided by a French goose with a passion for golf (Larry Miller) and his British duck caddy (Eric Price), and while they get a couple laughs, they're not memorable enough to save the slow mid section of the film. Actually, that's the problem with the whole movie. Nothing stands out, or is memorable in the slightest. There are a couple cute moments, such as the relationship that grows between Garth and Kate's ditzy Omega sister, Lilly (Christina Ricci), but nothing ever builds to anything worthwhile.

The movie is presented in 3D, which helps some of the scenic mountain and forest backdrops stand out, but isn't enough to warrant the extra cost of watching the film. I was disappointed with how clotted the fur on all the wolves look, especially since animated studios have been able to produce realistic looking fur and hair for years now. This is a very average looking movie, and wearing those dark glasses doesn't help in hiding the visual flaws. On the plus side, I did admire that the screenplay by Chris Denk and Steve Moore avoids some cliches. Humphrey and Kate generally get along well during their travels, and we don't get the standard "they start out hating each other, but slowly fall in love" plot. Here, they start out as friends, and then fall in love. Much like the movie they're in, they're pleasant and likable (as are Long and Panettiere's voice performances), but just don't do enough to stand out.

Alpha and Omega plays kind of like a throwback to the 90s, when everyone was trying to catch up with Disney. The thing is, studios have caught up, and some are producing stuff that's just as good. In this day and age, adequate just doesn't cut it, and that's all this movie is. It's the kind of movie that will be forgotten in a week or two, disappear, then be used on DVD as something for the kids to watch while the adults go off and do something else. Given how far animated films have come, we all deserve better.

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