Grandly played, fact-inspired adventure as a ‘musher’ races his sled dog team thru Alaskan wilds & weather to get diphtheria serum home to Nome during a 1925 outbreak. Cleverly put together & emotionally effective (even the hokey moments of manipulative comic tropes & heart-tugging puppy flashbacks work like a charm), it also serves as corrective to accepted legend on the dog sled teams who braved blizzards, mountains & half-frozen water to reach a hospital full of sick kids in the nick of time. Credit went to ‘Balto,’ lead dog of the final leg, whereas the lion’s share of this incomprehensively dangerous journey (with ten-fold the distance of any other team) belonged to dog-of-the-century Togo (old for the job at 12) and team, mushed by strong, weather-beaten Willem Dafoe as the trainer. The film seems to have skipped regular cinemas for streaming services, a pity as it’s quite spectacular even on the small screen. Imagine on IMAX. With director/cinematographer Ericson Core smoothly blending real location footage (and real dogs) with CGI sweetening. (Only over-playing digital potential during the break-up of a semi-frozen lake.*) All told, a family film to give family films a good name.
DOUBLE-BILL: The story of BALTO, the dog who got all the credit, was animated in 1995. (Not seen here.) For more real dog action, both original & terrifying, try FEHÉR ISTEN (WHITE GOD)/’14 from Hungary.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Did Cole know this wouldn’t be shown on the big screen? A third feature after the tepidly received INVINCIBLE/’06 and his rethink fiasco on cult pic POINT BREAK/’15, TOGO seemed designed to lift him past earlier work as A-list action fare cinematographer. But who got to see it properly?
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