Movie Thoughts: White Fang (2018)

• Released: 6 July 2018
• Directed by: Alexandre Espigares
• Running time: 1 h 25 min
• Rating 3.5/5

Synopsis

A wolfdog finds his place in the world after being owned by various people, some kind, some abusive.

My Thoughts

I really was looking forward to this one, really was. I've been following the production of this one since the 2000s, actually, back when some concept art plus a small animated snippet dropped. Also, the original thing was going to be animated in 2D. But then it went quiet for quite a few years before "French White Fang Adaptation" finally dropped on Netflix in 2018. And it's...decent...good-ish?

There definitely is some good stuff here. The improved less-racist portrayal of the Native Americans, the accurate design of Beauty Smith (we'll get to him), the animation and character designs in some cases. But there's also some duds that hold it back from me really enjoying it as much as I'd hoped.

For one, I don't think this movie's version of White Fang is particularly interesting. The book's character had a clear vicious character that took a long time to warm up to the idea of being loved by people. This adaptation's version is pretty generic. Yes, he snarls sometimes, but he's never outright dangerous and vicious to anyone but the villains. Instead of having to slowly learn to love Scott (and his wife) over a long period of time, here he doubts them for a second but very soon just accepts them as if they were friends for ages already.

Second, the animation. It's...decent. Particularly the animals look good. Their fur textures are a bit more stylized, but I honestly like it. Their mannerisms also look pretty good and realistic and I like their designs. But the humans look...off. I get that they were trying to go for a certain style here, with a more clay-like look to everything, but it just doesn't work for the people's character designs. They look a bit uncanny valley and never quite move as well as the animals do. I'm not saying that the concept of this stylized aesthetic is bad, but it's the execution that falls flat.

So as I said before, the Native Americans have been portrayed more positively. However, the ableism issue with Beauty Smith hasn't been fixed. While this is actually one of the very few adaptations I've seen where his design actually is book-accurate and thus he is deformed and has a limp, but that comes with the problem of ableism. When the only disabled character is a vicious dog-abuser with no positive qualities whatsoever, that's not good representation. I like book accuracy in some cases, but I don't mind changing things to be more progressive from time to time. 

The violence in the story is also weirdly censored. Like, don't get me wrong, I don't need to see blood or dogs ripping each other to shreds, but pretty much all of the fighting action, which is a very central element to the White Fang story, just takes place off-screen. I really don't get where this is coming from, as I've seen other adaptations that handle it fine without showing blood or excessive violence. But it's just really distracting when it pretty much constantly cuts away from showing any form of violence. 

Also, the ending. Context: After befriending the wolfdog and considering taking him to California, Weedon and Maggie Scott decide to set White Fang free in the Yukon. The problem? They're setting free an animal that has been a pet since puphood. They portray White Fang being released as some kind of bit inspirational moment, when anyone with a lick of common sense knows that the wolf will most certainly die. He can't hunt, he doesn't know how to behave as a wolf. He may be part wolf, but he's lived a life of an abused dog. Suddenly setting him free won't magically make him a wild animal with all the instincts needed to survive. Endings such as this are always pet peeves of mine. Do not release pets, or even wild animals that have been kept captive all their lives. They won't survive and it never comes across as inspirational despite how the movie tries to portray it to me.

So while I do like elements of this adaptation (the backgrounds, animation and designs of the animals), there's just too much holding it back for me to thoroughly enjoy it. It's not bad, but it could've been so much better.