The Hindu : Karnataka News : The wolves are nothing to cry about

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Sunday, Feb 06, 2011
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Karnataka

Karnataka

The wolves are nothing to cry about

Predictable:The clunky animation and tiresome story make sitting through the film an ordeal.

Alpha and Omega (English)

Voice cast: Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Dennis Hopper, Danny Glover, Christina Ricci

Directors: Anthony Bell, Ben Gluck

The production notes for Alpha and Omega say the film is only 88 minutes long, but I thought it was much longer. Unfortunately, the film plods along from one scene to the next, and in just the first 15 minutes, you are saying enough already.

Kate and Humphrey are wolves of the same pack in a reserve in Canada. While Kate, the daughter of the alpha male, Winston, is an alpha herself, Humphrey is at the bottom of the social ladder, an omega, who spends his time fooling around with his buddies.

There is trouble brewing between Winston's pack and the eastern pack led by Tony over the valley. The solution lies in the packs uniting with Kate marrying Tony's son Garth. On prom night, or something like it, Kate meets Garth on a date. (Even writing this is so lame).

Anyway, a ranger comes, tranquilises Kate and Humphrey, and relocates them to a reserve in Idaho. The two need to return home to prevent the packs from turning on each other.

The voice cast is all right. The animation, apart from the bobsledding on the log and gracious mountains, is rather clunky (a shame as the animation is done in India and I am sure we are capable of better). All this, plus a tiresomely predictable story makes sitting through the film quite an ordeal.

There are a lot of ‘Lion King' moments, including the stampeding caribou. The stampede is like a deus ex machina that pops up whenever the writers don't know what to do with the story.

Of the lot, Kate's mother, Eve, was fun — saying the most horrific things in her gentle, mommy voice. The film is dedicated to Dennis Hopper (he voiced Tony) in his last screen appearance.

We sure would have liked a better movie to remember the easy rider by.

MINI ANTHIKAD-CHHIBBER

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