cheap

“White Fang 2” is a lesson in the pitfalls of trying to make a sequel to a classic story. The first took the Jack London book and turned it into an adventurous, picturesque family film about the American frontier. The sequel is just as good-looking but it struggles to find equal amounts of human drama.

It’s also missing Ethan Hawke, who I really believe became a star in the first film. He shows up in a prologue, explaining to us that his character’s gold claim and half-dog, half wolf White Fang are now being taken care of by a friend named Henry (Scott Bairstow). Henry and the dog are on the way to turn in their gold claim to town but instead almost end up drowning, only to be saved by a tribe of Haida Indians.

And he is actually just who they were waiting for. The chief of the tribe has had a dream that a paleface white wolf will come to save them- they are starving due to a caribou shortage and need a white guy to come show them the way to more for some reason. Henry is reluctant at first but here’s a screenplay that goes through the cliches of persuasion- whether it’s the idea white guys can never discount Indian mysticism, can never resist a pretty girl, in this case the chief’s niece (Charmaine Craig), or are all so greedy and money hungry that they are easily guilt-tripped into doing something noble.

This time around the movie seems far more interested in prophecy and Henry’s burgeoning heroism and romance with the niece (of which clunky dialogue seems to almost be a pre-requisite. “I choose you”) than even with the dog- who is offscreen much of the time and occasionally we see is also courting a white she-wolf. This lack of incredible derring-do from White Fang is a disappointment and also clearly another cost-cutting measure- training the animals to do incredible stunts while keeping them safe is an issue that probably costs a pretty penny.

That’s not to say the film doesn’t have action, but it’s more of the routine variety. Alfred Molina plays a villain looking to get the Indians off their land for nefarious purposes and more so than anything else, that leads to a lot of carriage chases, shoot-outs, and explosions (the last third is pretty much all this) though a lot of it feels weightless and just constant kinetic motion to please the very young.

These subplots are flimsy hooks to hang an action thriller on and Bairstow and Craig, while attractive leads, aren’t given much to do besides physical action. The best part is still the scenery- the mountain peaks and valleys are wonderful to behold and the best action sequence in the film features the river and its roiling rapids. If you look at that and don’t mind bland action thrillers, “White Fang 2” isn’t necessarily bad, but it seems to have been made with not much thought or expense- so it’s no surprise in the end it just feels cheap.