Movie Thoughts: The Great Alaskan Race (2019)

• Released: October 25, 2019
• Directed by: Brian Presley
• Running time: 1 h 27 min
• Rating 3.5/5

Synopsis

When the town of Nome is struck by a diphtheria outbreak, a relay of mushers is organized to travel through the harsh Alaskan wilderness to deliver the antitoxin. 

My Thoughts

Funny how this one and Togo (2019) cover the same topic in the same year. Anyhow, I'm kind of mixed on this movie. I used to like it equally to Togo, but after re-watching it I'm honestly kind of disappointed. Definitely liked it better on my first watch.

Despite what the poster says, the dogs really are more of an afterthought in this movie. They're not central to the story other than being the main "vehicle" for the medicine. Togo and Balto both appear but neither have a personality or even a very prominent appearance. They're just there a few times and then they're gone. The focus is really more on the human part of the story, unlike in Togo or Balto.

Seppala is really the central hero of the story. I don't really get why they added the part of him being basically "one" with the Inuit, I don't recall learning anything about that. I know he had a wife (Constance, who is also a character in this movie though not his spouse) and a daughter (who does appear as his daughter respectively), but I never learned any of this. Maybe they did this so they could add more Inuit characters for representation? But then again the two major ones (his wife and one of the kids) die in the film, so I'm not sure if I'd count it as good representation.

Seppala is a pretty standard character with standard motivations. In Togo, they left out the fact that he had a daughter who could get diphtheria, but they kept it here. Constance is also this do-gooder white Christian lady character who I felt very little for. I know they wanted to set her up as a love interest, but their relationship doesn't even go anywhere in the film. She's just there to be a potential love interest, but they never get together or anything in the film. Then there's Sigrid, who was just there to be a pwecious child. Seriously, she had no personality. Just a blank slate child character. I'm usually not too hard on child acting, but man, the kid they got to play her just really couldn't act. I've hardly ever seen such a wooden delivery. 

I also wouldn't be Alex if I didn't at least bring up the dogs they used. Togo is played by a silver-and-white husky, which is inconsistent from his agouti real-life counterpart. Balto is played by a black-and-white but predominantly white husky. I was just somewhat disappointed to see how little standout dogs they got for these parts, all of the sled dogs look pretty much the same. In Togo, they actually got an agouti husky to play the titular character, and a predominantly black Balto as well. The wolf in this was played by what I guess is a mid to low-content wolfdog, as aside from the face and the perked ears it didn't look much like one. Too dog-like. And for this once I would've been okay with them using a real wolf because there's little to no interaction between human and "wolf". 

While a decent attempt at telling the Serum Run story, I'd refer you to Togo and Balto instead. They're more inaccurate, but they have more heart and better characters.