The Call of the Wild
20th Century Fox | Release Date: February 21, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 44 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
27
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
ObserverRex ReedFeb 21, 2020
Buck is lovable forever. If you think he’s perfection on four legs, he is. If you think he’s the most human dog since Lassie, Benji and Rin Tin Tin, he isn’t. Because Buck, you see, is computer-generated. Never mind. I guarantee you will love him anyway. Read full review
75
Original-CinKaren GordonFeb 20, 2020
The Call of the Wild is aiming to be an old-fashioned adventure movie for family viewing, and it delivers the requisite big warm cinematic hug. And more than being the story of a dog finding his inner wolf and fulfilling his destiny, it’s also an homage to the natural world. And that, wrapped in the adventures of a dog, is a pretty wonderful thing. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenFeb 20, 2020
The essence of the London story is retained, with stouthearted Buck being annealed by adversity, overcoming brutality, confusion and loneliness and then responding to the kindness of Thornton to become the leader of the pack. And all that is accomplished with a soft touch. What we have here is the call of the mild Read full review
75
The Film StageDan MeccaFeb 17, 2020
Ultimately, it’s the upbeat energy from Sanders’ direction that keeps the engine going. The Call of the Wild is a welcome adventure for a cold winter’s night. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyMaureen Lee LenkerFeb 17, 2020
Though this tale of redemption and survival doesn’t feel particularly relevant or essential in today’s media landscape, it still has the capacity to entertain and move, well over a century after the story first was published. And Ford’s presence and performance inject it with a wild heart it desperately needs. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineMichael Joshua RowinFeb 17, 2020
The film’s avoidance of cruel Gold Rush realities is more than made up for by its spirited kineticism and by its deepening of the man-dog bond that forms the heart of London’s story. Read full review
70
Little White LiesElena LazicDec 29, 2021
A winning adaptation that never condescends its audience. Read full review
70
UproxxMike RyanFeb 19, 2020
I’m not sure who a faithful adaptation of The Call of the Wild would even be for in 2020. Instead, we get a pleasant movie about Harrison Ford having a nice time, laughing it up with his dog pal – and I really can’t imagine a better way to tell this story than that. Read full review
70
Film ThreatAlan NgFeb 18, 2020
The Call of the Wild is actually a good story and ultimately works as a movie. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisFeb 19, 2020
At least the heroic Buck remains the focal point here, unlike in other less faithful screen incarnations that mainly trade on the familiar title. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 21, 2020
Harrison Ford gives as dignified a performance as he has managed in many years. And the cinematography (by veteran Janusz Kaminski) is glorious. But the tonal shifts threaten to cause whiplash and the “improvements” made to London’s book (presumably to make it more cinematic) undermine both the thematic and narrative integrity of the tale. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Aparita BhandariFeb 21, 2020
If you’re after an action-packed adventure film set against turn-of-the-century Canadian wilderness, you’ll likely come away disappointed. If you’re looking for a good ol’ yarn – the kind where bad guys sneer, good guys sigh and a big dog rescues everyone and finds its true self in the process? Jackpot! Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshFeb 18, 2020
There isn't much nuance or complexity to be found in The Call of the Wild, but it's an old-fashioned animal-friendly adventure flick for kids, a modern-day and high-tech “Benji” based on a classic piece of literature. Read full review
60
Time OutDan JolinMar 6, 2020
Harrison Ford brings his gruff charisma but this man-and-CG-dog adventure gets a bit lost in uncanine-y valley. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeFeb 26, 2020
It should please family audiences; it’s a handsomely mounted, stirring adventure. It’s just a little bit declawed. Read full review
60
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiFeb 21, 2020
Most attempts to adapt the works of Jack London to the big screen have, more often than not, resulted in a neutered final product. Chris Sanders‘ live-action/computer-animated adaptation of The Call of the Wild falls firmly in this category. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergFeb 20, 2020
This “Call of the Wild,” however defanged and updated, doesn’t lack for exciting canine brawls or tense rescues from frozen waters. It also doesn’t lack for an almost soothing corniness. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicWeldon B. JohnsonFeb 19, 2020
The Call of the Wild is a fascinating movie, visually. Read full review
60
Total FilmJames MottramFeb 18, 2020
The excessive CGI can be distracting, some performances veer towards caricature, but this is still a big-hearted take on London’s classic. Read full review
60
EmpireIan FreerFeb 18, 2020
A sentimental but solid dependable retelling of an oft-told tale, it doesn’t do anything radical with the material but gets by on well mounted set-pieces and Ford’s grizzled gravitas. Read full review
60
Screen RantSandy SchaeferFeb 17, 2020
Though it lacks the grit and gristle of the best London adaptations, The Call of the Wild is elevated by Harrison Ford and a very good CGI doggo. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 17, 2020
The result is a bit corny, a bit cheesy and you might feel self-conscious going, “Aww …” at creatures that are not real dogs but laptop fabrications. But it’s a robust and old-fashioned entertainment with some real storytelling bite. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanFeb 17, 2020
For all the wholesome cheesiness of much of the film, you’d have to have a pretty hard heart not to be touched by it. Read full review
58
ConsequenceRobert DanielsFeb 18, 2020
While The Call of the Wild is silly, and never completely pulls the wool over the eyes with respect to the CGI, there’s enough meat on the bone to gnaw on before burying it in the backyard. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneFeb 24, 2020
The result is remarkable, yet it’s still a hairbreadth away from credible. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJake CoyleFeb 21, 2020
There is little here, amid the high-tech photorealistic animations, that would satisfy London’s concept of “wild.” Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversFeb 20, 2020
Ford is at his droll, grumpy-old-man best, so he can do his own acting without having his emotions computer generated. At least for now. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comNell MinowFeb 20, 2020
The problem is less the technology, which is very impressive, than it is the uneven storyline, which zigzags from slapstick to poignance to action. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiFeb 20, 2020
You never believe Buck is the genuine article, so moments of danger and even cute mannerisms don’t land. Even the best-trained contestant at Westminster has some unpredictability. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 19, 2020
Ford gives a grounded, quietly powerful performance as a reclusive, regret-filled, self-pitying old-timer who crawls out of a bottle and finds a renewed sense of purpose when he sees the world through Buck’s eyes. If only those eyes weren’t so distractingly incongruous. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleCarla MeyerFeb 19, 2020
But most every moment Ford is in on screen is a welcome one. Buck seems more real when in Ford’s presence. Read full review
50
USA TodayBrian TruittFeb 17, 2020
At least Harrison Ford does his grizzled best to ground a hybrid film awash in computer-generated animals and visual pizzazz. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubAllison ShoemakerFeb 17, 2020
It is neither disaster nor dream, landing firmly somewhere in the disappointing middle. Read full review
50
IndieWireEric KohnFeb 17, 2020
The 2020 Call of the Wild isn’t all-out atrocity so much as a question mark, a formulaic adventure story spruced up with cutting-edge technology in search of a purpose. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckFeb 17, 2020
The results are visually disorienting, to say the least. Although Notary and the special effects team do as good a job as technology allows, the expressive Buck never quite looks real. And you keep expecting him and the rest of the animals to burst into song. Read full review
50
Washington PostMark LiebermanFeb 17, 2020
Stands out for its earnest effort to entertain without commenting on itself or the modern world. Read full review
45
CNNBrian LowryFeb 20, 2020
The blessings of technology actually undermine the movie in significant, distracting ways. Read full review
45
TheWrapYolanda MachadoFeb 17, 2020
Slow, emotionless and boasting fairly mediocre production values, this misguided kid movie turns Jack London’s classic tale about the natural world into something barely recognizable as part of that world. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 20, 2020
Ford doesn’t give a bad performance, but the dog does: the obvious fakery we can (maybe) overlook in a CG lion is far too glaring when it’s man’s best friend. Read full review
40
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganFeb 17, 2020
Call Of The Wild isn’t animation, it isn’t live action, it isn’t fish, fowl or dog and somewhere in between it falls off its sled. Mankind can always benefit from some digital enhancement; man’s best friend, not so much. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 17, 2020
I found this a perfectly handsome and literarily defensible mounting of a well-known tale that was far and away the most bloodless version of it. Ever. Read full review
30
IGNMatthew DoughertyFeb 19, 2020
Bad CGI takes away everything real about the relationship between man and dog in this inherently flawed, technically focused adaptation of Jack London’s age-old classic. Not even Harrison Ford, charming as he may be, can rescue this cynically made film from emotional bankruptcy. Read full review
0
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 21, 2020
Something sure is screwy when a kid needs to go back to old Warner Bros. cartoons in which coyotes with jet-propelled tennis shoes or do-it-yourself tornado kits come closer to suggesting how nature actually works. Read full review
0
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 20, 2020
Buck is so precocious, such a relentlessly clever construction, that he leaves nothing to our imagination. He’s the soul-free star of a movie that’s dead in the icy water. Read full review
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