Movie Thoughts: The Journey of Natty Gann (1985)

• Released: 27 September 1985
• Directed by: Jeremy Kagan
• Running time: 1 h 41 min
• Rating 4/5

Synopsis

After her father finds a job in Washington and leaves her behind, a girl named Natty runs away and decides to travel all the way from Seattle to him. On her journey, she's accompanied by another runaway named Harry and a wolf. 

My Thoughts

I didn't expect to genuinely like this movie going in. I didn't go in expecting to dislike it, either, but it just looked pretty generic in my book. However, I was very much so pleasantly surprised by The Journey of Natty Gann.

For one thing, I really liked the characters. This movie doesn't sport a huge cast, but the ones that were featured majorly I took a real liking to. I liked the father, I liked Natty and how determined she was to find her father while knowing so little about he worked. I liked Harry, the hardened drifter. And yes, of course I liked the wolf. You know me.

The journey of this movie was one that definitely felt grand to me. I've never traveled across America except for a small part of the southwest, so a lot of it is of course unfamiliar to me. But I genuinely liked seeing all these places Natty came across and how she got there. On foot, hitching rides from cars and trains, it's all there. The movie also had some pretty forest scenery and I just liked the overall setting.

The performances were also really good. I genuinely liked the acting of the main characters in this, from tomboyish Natty to the more stoic yet friendly Harry. Jed as the wolf also did an outstanding performance as always. 

This is actually the second movie in which I've seen Jed, the first being White Fang (1991). He really just looks so much like a wolf despite being half dog that you can easily just pass him off as a purebred wolf, so this isn't like in a lot of movies where they got non-wolflike animals (usually huskies or German shepherds) to play the parts of wolves, which often ends up looking goofy. God bless modern days for allowing for CGI wolves.

Is there some things I disliked about this movie? Well, yes, otherwise it'd have an even better rating. First of all, the romance between Natty and Harry: It felt forced. I can buy these two becoming close friends over their journey, but them ending up kissing just felt rushed and also uncomfortable because Harry comes across as a whole lot older than her (about four years I believe)? He's also been a drifter for way longer than Natty, so he's also emotionally more mature than her. 

There's also the thing where people keep passing off the wolf as just a dog. I can get it from a distance, since he does have some minor Malamute-ish qualities about him, but she just consistently walks with him through towns and settlements and nobody even bats and eye that this girl is walking around with what is obviously a wolf (or technically speaking a mid-content wolfdog). Even when up close they refer to him as a dog. Dude, you have eyes, right? That's definitely not a dog. 

The ending was also a bit of a copout. We never see Natty reunite with Harry, which I would've liked despite their awkward rushed romance, and it honestly just ends with her meeting her father and that's it. I know that was the main goal of the movie, but it would've been nice to get a bit more closure on her and Harry's bond because as it is they have a sad separation scene and never see each other again. I know it's implied they'll write, but still. A bit of a reference to them seeing one another again in the future would've been nice.

Still, I genuinely ended up really liking The Journey and will highly recommend it to people who like adventure stories. Or movies with wolves. Or both. They often overlap. Strong characters, good acting and a great journey to experience, it has it all!