28th August, 2008 Login • Register
Search This Site
Call Of The Wild: Fool's Gold (2000) DVD Review
Call Of The Wild: Fool's Gold (2000) DVD Credits:
Call Of The Wild: Fool's Gold (2000) Directed by:
Gary Harvey
Call Of The Wild: Fool's Gold (2000) Written by:
David Fallon
Call Of The Wild: Fool's Gold (2000) Cast:
Shane Meier, Nick Mancuso, Rachel Hayward, Kathleen Duborg, Ben Cardinal
Call Of The Wild: Fool's Gold (2000) Released by:
Call of the Wild Productions
Region:
1
Call Of The Wild: Fool's Gold (2000) DVD Release Date:
21st April 2008
Our Rating: Extras Rating:

User Rating:  Log in to rate this DVD
Call Of The Wild: Fool's Gold (2000) Synopsis:

Miles is a 15 year old living in a small Alaskan mining town and wants desperately to work as a guide. His dream seems to be within reach when Buck, a strong and hearty sled dog, comes to town. Miles, against his father's wishes, agrees to help a pair of greedy, gold-hunting siblings find their way through Alaska in order to prove himself. However, he must overcome starvation and the freezing cold if he wants to survive the trip.

Call Of The Wild: Fool's Gold (2000) DVD Review:

Dogs have stolen the hearts of audiences for ages. Buck, the husky in Call of the Wild (based on the novel by Jack London), is no different. He embodies the heroism and strength of Lassie in the setting of Alaska at the turn of the century. Buck’s performance does not take away from Shane Meier’s job playing Miles, the fifteen year-old with big dreams of becoming a guide. Together these friends take an incredible and action-packed journey that is both exciting and heartwarming.

Miles, like many teenagers, wants to become his own person and break free from the control of his step dad John. He wants to show John, one of the most well respected guides in town, that he too can do the job. Miles needs the exceptional Buck to make his dreams come true. Though he cannot afford Buck, Miles works to get a job so that he can eventually have a dog pack of his own.

When two wealthy siblings come to town looking for gold, Miles finds his chance to prove himself as a worthy guide. With encouragement from his mother, Miles agrees to take the two to Eagle Rock with a team of dogs led by the heroic Buck. However, the two siblings are naïve and their greed takes over. Mercedes Levant will not take no for an answer when it comes to traveling through the Alaskan woods, even if it means harsher weather and a chance of starvation. When she and her brother come across a frozen corpse laying with a sack of gold and a map to the gold mine, they insist on continuing further into danger at any cost. Miles is reluctant, but agrees to help them for the sake of Buck. Greed soon proves deadly on the trip and Miles must find a way to get back home safely with his canine friend.

Fools Gold is just one episode of Call of the Wild, but it is basically a feature film. Its production design is amazing. The atmosphere of the turn-of-the-century frontier is felt strongly throughout. The hard lighting adds so much to the emotion that comes with leaving home and fighting to prove yourself. The score is prominent and contributes to the overall atmosphere because of the persistent use of the horn. The makeup is realistic, especially the look of the frozen faces of the starving travelers. The look of Call of the Wild is just beautiful.

The story is exciting all the way through. Miles encounters obstacle after obstacle. Even when you think he is going to get what he wants, you have to wait even longer for him to do so. Meier does such a great job of being the brave but green young man. Some of the other performances are not as strong, but Meier’s is most important. Call of the Wild is pure adventure. It takes you into the desolate woods and presents very real dangers. The messages about greed and friendship are familiar, but are well motivated. Call of the Wild: Fool’s Gold is just an engaging story with likable characters and a great historical atmosphere.

To an extent, this episode is predictable. We know what is going to happen to the greedy brother at the end because of all the hints mentioned before hand. We know what will become of Miles’ love interest and his friendship with Buck. We also know the outcome of the family dynamics at the end. However, Call of the Wild presents this familiar territory in an original setting and banks on the power that Buck carries as a leading character. It is by no means an extremely memorable show, but it has its good moments. It works well as a period drama for family entertainment.

The DVD includes no extras except a few previews. This is a shame because a featurette on the making or adaptation of Call of the Wild would be interesting.

Our Rating: Extras Rating: User Rating:  Log in to rate this DVD

Call Of The Wild: Fool's Gold (2000) DVD review written by: Kirsten Moore

Content Management System provided by P J Thomson - Freelance Web Design - PHP/MySQL Development