Everyone loves a dog who can play basketball, learn karate, save children from wells or help Tom Hanks solve mysteries. Heck, everyone seems to love dogs, period. But where did all that love come from?
Albert Hughes’ “Alpha” tells the story of the first wolf who became man’s best friend, in a film that could have been cheap and saccharine — like so many dog films before — but instead feels almost, but not entirely, mythic.
“Alpha” stars Kodi Smit-McPhee (“X-Men: Apocalypse”) as Keda, a teenage caveman from thousands of years ago, whose father Tau (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, “Atomic Blonde”) is chief of their tribe. Keda is about to embark on his first hunt, and along the way earns his tattoo of the Big Dipper (which might be important later) but also earns scorn for his inability to kill a captured boar.
We learn early on that Keda’s father and his mother, Rho (Natassia Malthe, “Battle Drone”), are worried about his future. Tau wants Keda to lead with his spear, and Rho wants him to lead with his heart. Meanwhile, Keda looks on from across the tent, making no contributions to the conversation, and indeed, never quite mentioning how he feels about being pulled in two directions.
“Alpha” is actually a very quiet film. The dialogue is minimal. We watch these people on their hunt, walking vast expanses under stars unfiltered by haze or light pollution. And it all looks impossibly gorgeous, thanks to the expert cinematography by Martin Gschlacht (“Goodnight Mommy”).
Keda is injured and thrown off a cliff in the middle of a stampede, and Tau mourns for days before leaving his side. Wouldn’t you know it, that’s when Keda finally wakes up and begins the perilous journey home. He’s alone, he’s broken, and he’s hunted by every animal under the sun.
When Keda gets treed by a pack of wolves, he injuries one of them. The pack leaves the injured wolf for dead, and Keda can’t bring himself to kill it, presumably because he recognizes the dramatic parallels between their plights. He slowly nurses the wolf, and himself, back to health. And so begins their epic journey of discovery, friendship, adventure, and so on and so forth.
“Alpha” is not a complicated movie. The story is straightforward and directional, a direct but difficult path from danger to safety, punctuated by life-threatening adventures. What could have made other storytellers stir-crazy seems to have unleashed something philosophical in Albert Hughes. In his solo directorial debut, he uses the space between Keda and his home, and the space between one side quest and the next, to visually explore the vastness of the world before mankind restructured it.
The sheer vastness of the world back when there was less stuff in it gives Hughes and Gschlacht the opportunity to paint glorious compositions, and they smartly take three dimensions into account. “Alpha” uses 3-D technology better than most other movies, allowing the audience to drink in the depth of the frame and to appreciate storytelling elements on multiple planes. The film sometimes even compresses the image to nearly silhouette flatness, to provide dramatic contrast and to emphasize the length of their journey instead of just their isolation.
Smit-McPhee capably captures the naïveté of young Keda, but his transformation to adulthood is a bit more academic. We understand what he’s been through, but as an actor, he doesn’t completely evolve in the way this epic journey probably should have transformed him in order to hammer the point home.
The same cannot be said for the wolf, Alpha, which is brought to remarkably plausible life by the film’s visual-effects team. It’s a fantastic and transformative performance, in which the animal’s body language is strikingly clear without being unnaturally anthropomorphic. When Keda tries to pet a wolf for the very first time, you can practically hear Alpha say, “We’re not there yet.” And later on, when Keda throws a stick at the animal in frustration, Alpha practically yells, “You dropped your stick! I’ll get it!”
“Alpha” may have family-friendly intentions, but the violence is palpable, and it’s a little inconsistent in its messaging. The story wouldn’t be told if Keda didn’t have a soft spot for animals, but sometimes he can’t bring himself to kill an animal, and at other times he has no compunction about it whatsoever. It’s hard to tell where Keda stands as a character and what the whole movie’s attitude is about mankind’s symbiosis with nature.
Do we only care about other creatures when it’s in our own best interests? If so, is that good? Bad? Help us out here, “Alpha,” you have the floor. You’re using your stage time to tell a vivid story with sharp and strikingly beautiful images, but you’re not really tying it together very well thematically.
“Alpha” comes close to greatness, specifically that rare kind of greatness that we reserve for timeless epics, or at least gorgeous Frank Frazetta illustrations. The story and protagonist aren’t quite rich enough to take it to the next level. But the film comes close to achieving its lofty ambitions, and provides us all with a new, fantastically photographed, almost amazing fable.
16 Scene-Stealing Animals in Movies, From 'The Wizard of Oz' to 'Captain Marvel' (Photos)
There are a lot of fun animal movies. But the animals that most jump out at us are the ones that come from movies that are NOT about animals. They’re the ones that genuinely steal the spotlight for a moment from their human counterparts and deserve just as much acclaim. Here are 16 that stole the show.
Toto the Dog – “The Wizard of Oz” (1939)
Is there a more famous dog in the history of movies? Capable of infiltrating an army of Oz soldiers and making sure you pay attention to that man behind the curtain, we’d choose Toto, whose real name was Terry, as a pet over Lassie or Rin Tin Tin any day.
MGM
Asta the Dog - "The Thin Man" (1934-47)
Another classic animal star, the wire fox terrier Skippy portrayed Asta in "The Thin Man" films and over a dozen movies overall throughout the 1930s. Skippy starred opposite William Powell, Myrna Loy, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and more.
MGM
Capuchin Monkey - "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981)
The Indiana Jones question that has plagued fans for decades centers on the capuchin monkey perched on the shoulder of a Nazi soldier that manages to do the Seig Heil salute. Does that mean the monkey was a Nazi or was it just taught to perform the gesture? And either way, did it deserve its untimely fate at the hands of the face-melting Ark?
Paramount Pictures
Norman the Calf – “City Slickers” (1991)
Winning the part through a literal cattle call, Norman won the part after Billy Crystal came to the ranch where the calf was raised and picked it for having a “sweet Bambi look” and the “cutest face of all,” according to EW.
Columbia Pictures
Phil the Groundhog – “Groundhog Day” (1993)
Punxsutawney Phil gives a pretty good performance “for a quadraped” in the classic romantic comedy “Groundhog Day,” in which Murray’s character Phil Connors snaps, kidnaps the groundhog and gets in a high-speed chase. “Don’t drive angry!”
Columbia Pictures
Mr. Jinx the Cat – “Meet the Parents” (2000)
Deep down every cat owner wants to believe that they might train it as well as Robert De Niro figures out how to train Mr. Jinx to use the toilet. Just don’t try to milk your own cat.
Universal
Baxter the Dog – “Anchorman” (2004)
“You know I don’t speak Spanish!” Ron Burgundy’s multi-lingual, cheese-loving, pajama-wearing pet deserves some sort of medal for getting punted into the San Diego Bay. The original dog that played Baxter, Peanut, died in 2010, and a replacement, Quince, was cast to play Baxter in the sequel.
DreamWorks Pictures
Tiger – “The Hangover” (2009)
Yes, Mike Tyson really does have three pet tigers. The screenwriters even rewrote the script to include Tyson when they decided they wanted a tiger to appear in the Wolfpack’s hotel suite.
Warner Bros.
Joey the Horse - "War Horse" (2011)
We'll give that "War Horse" is technically a movie about an animal, but Steven Spielberg's sweeping war epic is actually so effective in part because of the 15 horses that managed to give an expressive, unified performance as the wonder-horse Joey.
DreamWorks
Uggie the Dog – “The Artist” (2011)
A true performer and in a way inspired by Asta from the Golden Hollywood era, Uggie often stole the stage from star Jean Dujardin both onscreen and off, making the rounds during the film’s press cycle and even getting his paw prints at the Chinese Theatre. Sadly, Uggie was put down in 2015 at age 13 after a battle with prostate cancer.
Warner Bros.
Cat – “Inside Llewyn Davis” (2013)
The cat Oscar Isaac’s Llewyn Davis holds in the Coen Brothers’ film isn’t just a lost house pet: it’s a symbol for all of Davis’s failures as a person, as a musician and as someone who can feel empathy. Plus it’s surprisingly comfortable on the subway.
CBS Films
Daisy the Dog - "John Wick" (2014)
Lesson learned: do not mess with John Wick's dog. This adorable, 1-year-old beagle at the time of filming won the job over a dozen other puppies in the filmmakers search for "the cutest dog in the world" and managed to warm the heart of even the most cold-blooded of assassins as played by Keanu Reeves.
Summit Entertainment
Black Phillip the Goat – “The Witch” (2016)
The goat in Robert Eggers’s indie horror gem “The Witch” is a very real, 210-pound billy goat named Charlie that gives such a devilishly good performance, turning completely demonic in a surprise twist, that A24 actually made an awards campaign promo for it. The same goat even later showed up in A24’s “It Comes at Night.”
A24
Little Man the Bird - "I, Tonya" (2017)
The bird perched on Allison Janney's shoulder in "I, Tonya" might've won her an Oscar. Janney actually "auditioned" three separate birds for the role and this one "just sat there and was so sweet," she told the New York Times. But when the time came to film, it kept pecking at her oxygen tank, forcing her to step up her game and focus.
Neon
Olivia the Westie - "Widows" and "Game Night" (2018)
This fluffy star in the making appeared in not one but two 2018 hits, the thriller "Widows" and the comedy "Game Night." Olivia gave an especially good performance when Brian Tyree Henry's character in "Widows" was forced to violently pick her up by the scruff. But all's well that ended well when the two reunited on a talk show.
Fox/Warner Bros.
Goose the Cat - "Captain Marvel" (2019)
The important thing to know about Goose is that he's not actually a cat, but rather a "flerken," a vicious, multi-tentacled space beast who can gobble up an army of alien soldiers and leave a permanent scratch for one Nick Fury.
Marvel
1 of 17
Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore
There are a lot of fun animal movies. But the animals that most jump out at us are the ones that come from movies that are NOT about animals. They’re the ones that genuinely steal the spotlight for a moment from their human counterparts and deserve just as much acclaim. Here are 16 that stole the show.