Film

The Call of the Wild

Name: The Call of the Wild
Genre: Adventure, Family, Drama
Released: 2020
Cast: Harrison Ford, Dan Stevens, Colin Woodell, Karen Gillan, Omar Sy

A boisterous St. Bernard-mix named Buck gets kidnapped from his cushy California life and shipped to the Yukon gold rush, where Harrison Ford's grizzled prospector eventually becomes his last human friend. The dog is entirely CGI, the landscapes look like a very expensive dream, and the whole thing plays like a gentle, old-fashioned boy's-adventure story stretched over a mostly digital canvas. Good for family movie night, less good if you want your nature gritty and real.

TMDb rating

7.5

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But It's quieter and more grown-up than Buck's story; don't expect the same broad family-film energy.

White Fang1991

Jack London's other wolf-dog epic, same Yukon gold rush, same author, but told from a genuinely wilder animal's point of view with a young Ethan Hawke along for the ride.

But Early-90s pacing and effects are more modest — no sweeping CGI vistas here, just practical animal performances.

Eight Below2006no page yet

Sled dogs abandoned in Antarctica have to survive on their own wits, and it's a legitimately tense, moving survival story that trusts animals to carry real emotion without dialogue.

But It's sadder and more intense in the middle stretch than the marketing lets on — pack tissues for kids.

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Nanook of the North1922

It's the ancestor of every frozen-wilderness adventure since, showing what real survival in that landscape actually looked like before CGI could fake it.

A silent documentary following an Inuit hunter and his family surviving the actual Arctic, decades before anyone dreamed of digital snowscapes — raw, unglamorous, and strangely mesmerizing.

But Silent, slow by modern standards, and troubled by its staged sequences and colonial gaze — worth knowing going in.

The Jungle Book2016

Another lone human navigating a lushly CGI wilderness full of talking animals, with the same blend of old-fashioned adventure storytelling and modern visual spectacle.

But Different mythology entirely — no dogs, no gold rush, just Mowgli and a jungle full of predators.

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey1993

Three pets trek across the wilderness to get home, narrated from inside their own heads — pure warm, unembarrassed family adventure with genuine peril along the way.

But It's aimed younger and leans harder into cute talking-animal comedy than Buck's story does.

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey poster

Iron Will1994

A young man and his dog sled team race across brutal winter terrain for prize money and pride — same period, same frozen landscapes, same underdog-makes-good structure.

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Into the Wild2007

If Buck's journey into self-reliance and wilderness stirred something, this is the human, unsentimental version — a young man abandoning civilization to find out who he really is.

But It's far more melancholy and philosophical, based on a true story that doesn't end gently.

The Journey of Natty Gann1985

A Depression-era girl crosses the country with a wolf-dog companion at her side — scrappy, earnest, and full of the same wide-open-landscape wonder.

But It's a deep-cut Disney title from the 80s; the pacing and production values show their age.

Balto1995

An animated sled-dog hero saves a town during a diphtheria outbreak in Alaska — if you want the gold rush spirit but rendered as a cartoon adventure for younger kids.

But It's squarely a kids' animated film, sweeter and simpler than Buck's more grown-up framing.

White God2014no page yet

Same premise as Buck's — a domesticated animal rediscovering something wild and dangerous inside itself — pushed to its darkest, most feral conclusion.

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Grizzly Man2005

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Werner Herzog's documentary about a man who lived among wild grizzlies convinced he understood them — funny, tender, and ultimately devastating in ways you won't see coming.

But It's a true story with a genuinely tragic ending; not remotely the comforting adventure the poster might suggest.