This film is a mixed bag of positives and negatives.
On the good side: The scenery is spectacular! The photography often awesome. It's a basically interesting plot. Disney is one of the few film studios that apparently knows that the only Indians in North America were not Plains Indians! On the down side: The Native American girl -- who is actually Native American -- is just a little too beautiful. They left out the part with her going to the Native American beauty salon!
But the real problem here is the script. At the beginning of the film the young man with the wolf companion are menaced by a bad guy...and that has nothing to do with the rest of the film. Then the young man -- a gold miner -- goes downriver and in the rapids loses his gold. Okay, that's cool. He is rescued by an Indian princess. Cool. Who has been sent to find a wolf her father had seen in a dream that would lead the tribe to the lost caribou -- a major source of food for the tribe, without which they have fallen on hard times. Okay, so you think that's the story you are about to see -- the dog and young man will lead the Indians to the caribou. But then the evil priest is menacing the Indians, and soon we find he is an illicit gold miner who has kidnapped Indian men who had been sent to find the caribou, and they are being forced under oppressive conditions to mine gold. Wait a minute...I'm feeling like I'm in an Indiana Jones film now (and believe me...in the mine sequences it does get quite Indiana Jones-ish). So now the dog and young man have to not only find the caribou (which they do, of course), but also rescue the Indians in the mine...all while also falling in love with the Indian princess, who gets kidnapped. Will Lassie...I mean White Fang...come to the rescue??? Will a small dynamite charge blow away a ridge of rock to allow the caribou to escape? Will Roy and Dale safely jump from a runaway wagon? And of course, Old Yeller...I mean White Fang...HAS to get injured. Will he survive? Just too much unrelated story. And then, as the film comes to a conclusion, would you believe the young lovers run into each others arms...and White Fang and a white female wolf run into each others paws. I kid you now. And who do we have to blame for all of this? Director Ken Olin, who proved he can destroy a television series through his poor directorial skills ("Brothers And Sisters").
Having said all that, I'm not saying to not watch this film. It's fun, even if it's not very believable. And, there's some pretty good acting here...which saves the film. Scott Bairstow as quite good as the young man; Charmaine Craig quite good as the Indian princess. Al Harrington is good as the father of the princess, although why they couldn't use a real American Indian, I don't know. Anthony Ruivivar is very good as the young Indian brother, although, again, why they couldn't use a real American Indian for the role, I don't know. Alfred Molina is excellent as the bad guy. And Geoffrey Lewis -- one of the best character actors around -- is great, as always, although his role is not very substantial.
So, sit back, suspend belief, and enjoy this romp...and curse Ken Olin while you're watching it...it could have been so much more.
On the good side: The scenery is spectacular! The photography often awesome. It's a basically interesting plot. Disney is one of the few film studios that apparently knows that the only Indians in North America were not Plains Indians! On the down side: The Native American girl -- who is actually Native American -- is just a little too beautiful. They left out the part with her going to the Native American beauty salon!
But the real problem here is the script. At the beginning of the film the young man with the wolf companion are menaced by a bad guy...and that has nothing to do with the rest of the film. Then the young man -- a gold miner -- goes downriver and in the rapids loses his gold. Okay, that's cool. He is rescued by an Indian princess. Cool. Who has been sent to find a wolf her father had seen in a dream that would lead the tribe to the lost caribou -- a major source of food for the tribe, without which they have fallen on hard times. Okay, so you think that's the story you are about to see -- the dog and young man will lead the Indians to the caribou. But then the evil priest is menacing the Indians, and soon we find he is an illicit gold miner who has kidnapped Indian men who had been sent to find the caribou, and they are being forced under oppressive conditions to mine gold. Wait a minute...I'm feeling like I'm in an Indiana Jones film now (and believe me...in the mine sequences it does get quite Indiana Jones-ish). So now the dog and young man have to not only find the caribou (which they do, of course), but also rescue the Indians in the mine...all while also falling in love with the Indian princess, who gets kidnapped. Will Lassie...I mean White Fang...come to the rescue??? Will a small dynamite charge blow away a ridge of rock to allow the caribou to escape? Will Roy and Dale safely jump from a runaway wagon? And of course, Old Yeller...I mean White Fang...HAS to get injured. Will he survive? Just too much unrelated story. And then, as the film comes to a conclusion, would you believe the young lovers run into each others arms...and White Fang and a white female wolf run into each others paws. I kid you now. And who do we have to blame for all of this? Director Ken Olin, who proved he can destroy a television series through his poor directorial skills ("Brothers And Sisters").
Having said all that, I'm not saying to not watch this film. It's fun, even if it's not very believable. And, there's some pretty good acting here...which saves the film. Scott Bairstow as quite good as the young man; Charmaine Craig quite good as the Indian princess. Al Harrington is good as the father of the princess, although why they couldn't use a real American Indian, I don't know. Anthony Ruivivar is very good as the young Indian brother, although, again, why they couldn't use a real American Indian for the role, I don't know. Alfred Molina is excellent as the bad guy. And Geoffrey Lewis -- one of the best character actors around -- is great, as always, although his role is not very substantial.
So, sit back, suspend belief, and enjoy this romp...and curse Ken Olin while you're watching it...it could have been so much more.