Alpha and Omega 2010 Movie Review - Discussion (Spoilers)

From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a film review for you.

Today I'll be reviewing the movie Alpha and Omega released in 2010.

Starring:
Hayden Panettiere, Christina Ricci, Justin Long

Directed by:
Anthony Bell, Ben Gluck

Genre:
Animation, Adventure, Comedy

MPAA Rating:
PG

Budget:
$20,000,000 (estimated)

IMDb Rating is currently:
5.3

The Synopsis is:
Two wolves from different classes in their society are brought together as they journey to return home.

*THE REST OF THE REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. *

Story:
The original story was written by Steve Moore and later he and Chris Denk wrote the screenplay.

In my opinion, the story is the strongest element in the film, and most likely the reason why so many Hollywood industry actors signed on.

The story starts out simple but then gets a little complicated.  At first it’s a forbidden love theme where there is a class structure of alpha and omega wolves in a pack.  The alpha wolves hunt and the omega wolves keep the peace by being jovial and funny.

Forbidden love is probably a theme that we’ve seen a lot of but what’s different about this is the concept using this fictional society of wolves.

I heard of the term alpha to refer to dogs and wolves, the leader of the pack, but never the omegas.


I thought that was a pretty cool element I had never really seen or even heard of in an animated film targeted for kids.

Now, despite the coolness of using real hierarchy terms for wolf packs, the real wolf pack societies are much smaller than what is represented in the film because it would consist of one breeding pair of alphas, a male and female and the rest of the pack would be their children or siblings.  The omega would be just one wolf that was the lowest-ranked in the pack who would feed last.  It would be the weakest or an outcast.

Being either an alpha or an omega in the film is not based on family stature or genetics but some mysterious factor.

Within the main story there are a lot of minor story plots, and distracting comedic moments to appeal to children, but it all seems to come together by the end which makes this story enjoyable for many adults who watch the film.

Pacing:
At and hour and 30 minutes the pacing is decent.  It just had a few moments that really felt cliched so that was quite boring, but on the most part that was minimal in the story.

Challenge:
The challenge at first is the stupid laws that separate alpha and omegas and one of them is that they cannot be a romantic couple.  The film sets that up right at the beginning as the pack leader, Winston tells, Humphrey who is an omega, that he knows that he is friends with  his daughter, Kate who is an alpha, but they can not date.

The next challenge would be the eastern wolves and how they are in competition for the valley in the fictional version of Jasper Park in Canada, where the caribou are plentiful.  This unnecessary squibbling leaves both packs starving.

To solve their feud, the pack leader from the east, Tony demands that Kate to marry his son, Garth and unite the packs peacefully.

If you think that was enough of a challenge, there’s much more.

Kate and Humphrey are drugged and taken to Idaho in order to repopulate in a different park.  Meanwhile, Tony thinks that Winston is hiding his daughter to prevent the unity so he intensifies the pressure with a threat of war.

One thing for sure is that this film has no shortage of impressive challenges, that really pose a big threat in the story.

Empathy:
My empathy was there from the very beginning, when Humphrey gets a little exposition from Winston about their culture and how he can’t continue bonding with Kate.

You get the sense that Humphrey is a charismatic young wolf who is secretly in love with Kate, but just not given the chance to be truly seen by her or the pack as a valuable member.

The empathy wavers when we quickly wonder why he is only after Kate when Lily, Kate’s sister who is also a cute and dateable omega, doesn’t even register in his radar.  Is he attracted to Kate because he feels she’s his soulmate or is he attracted to her because she is the most important asset to the pack’s future… and getting the girl means finally achieving his society’s highest level of respect for an Omega.  I don’t know.  The film doesn’t clarify that and you are suddenly not on “Team Humphrey”.

It doesn’t help that when Humphrey meets Kate’s fiance, Garth, he is obnoxious to someone who seems to be a nice guy simply because he feels threatened.

Now his love interest Kate is another character with great attributes, but isn’t perfect either.

She is the responsible princess character of her clan, who will one day be the ruler of the pack.  Kate is dedicated to her responsibility as an alpha, so when she finds out about her arranged marriage to Garth, she doesn't refuse it like most princesses.  She actually agrees to it.

I thought to myself, “Wow, that’s different.”  I was expecting her to perform a common cliche by run off and do something selfish that unknowingly led to dire consequences.

Then suddenly just when you think it is possible that she could actually like Garth, if she got to know him better, she blows him off because he doesn't have an attractive howl.

She’ pretty shallow.  But that plot point really imparts to the audience that howling is more than just a community thing, but it is really more of an intimate custom between soul mates in harmony with one another.

The empathy for the two main characters returns when Kate finds herself with Humphrey on their adventure together.  It is only very near the end the love story between the two delivers.

By the way, the names of the 2 main characters Humphrey and Kate are named after actors Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.

There is also a side love story between Garth and Lily, wherein Lily teaches Garth to howl and Garth teaches Lily that she’s beautiful both inside and out and she shouldn’t hide it.

Technical:
The performances were fully acted out in America and sent to Mumbai, India to be fully animated.


The technical aspects are a mixed bag.   The graphics are pretty blocky and unrefined.  But it is pretty stylised for a kids animation.  It seems like the kind of animation that is being mass produced these days, though I don’t doubt that it took a lot of work to make this film.

But you can see, where images were copied and reused.  Even these two animal cages have identical scratches and markings.  I’m not an expert at this stuff, but even I noticed it and this is where the film loses its gravity.

It really takes some time to really get used to watching this kind of animation.

The wolves on the most part were designed to move  on all fours mimicking the movement of real wolves.  That is where the animation really succeeded. 


Where the animation fails is where it had the wolves wearing identifying hairstyles, standing and dancing like humans.

But I am sure it is something that kids could really enjoy to find some relatability for them.

I also felt that some of the character designs were great when they looked more like real wolves and I think that they achieved that with Humphrey, Winston, and Tony.

I have to say that the film animated the acting on the characters excellently allowing us to really sense the emotional depth and subtleties.  I thought that was the one human element that really helps this film strike a sentimental chord with audiences of all ages.
Another cool aspect were some of the visual imagery that ties into the emotional factor, like the shadow of Humphrey howling, while Kate is deciding whether or not to join him.  That was well done.

I really love the environments that were animated for the characters to interact with in nature.  The were not realistic, but beautiful art to say the least.

Soundtrack was pretty incredible, using the howling riffs to anchor the story.  I loved it.

And the score was pretty decent bringing up the drama when it needed to,  but sometimes it plays too strongly under the film when it wasn’t needed.

Performances:
The performances were all great.

Justin Long lends his unique comedic talents to voice of Humphrey.  And it works so very well for this character.

Hayden Panettiere voiced Kate capturing her youthful charisma.

I was pretty blown away to hear the voices of Danny Glover and Dennis Hopper in this film during my first viewing and it really gives this film more of a memorable texture.

Danny Glover voiced Winston playing the patriarch of the western pack and providing great emotional reactions to the events in the story.

The film was dedicated in memory of Dennis Hopper as it was his last movie role before we lost this great American actor.  He voiced the leader of the rival pack, Tony and posing a real threat in the story.   Many of his lines are really powerful and leave a lasting impression on many audiences.

Best:
Though it didn’t make much sense I loved the bear chase scene was a lot of fun.

I really enjoyed the subplot of the two wolves Garth and Lilly falling in love with each other in tandem with Kate and Humphrey.

I really loved the character of Kate’s mother, Eve.  I wasn’t crazy about her design, but I loved how she was would say a threatening bit of dialogue in a very bouncy happy tone. That’s a mom you don’t want to mess with.

I thought that using the howling of wolves in real life as a means in the film to represent a ritual in romantic relationships was an excellent creative idea and it was executed well.

The first howling sequence surprised me and I was kinda freaked out by it, but after a while when I understood its significance, I found it to be quite sweet and endearing.

Last of all I really enjoyed the voice acting.  They were all excellent.

The Ending:
The ending was pretty good.    We got a bit of bait and switch with Humphrey leaving the pack and coming back in time to help save the pack.  His character gets a nice arc as he finally learns how to be a hero.  Not to mention Humphrey and Kate make an excellent team as they save Winston and Tony from a sudden caribou stampede.

Wish List:
I wish the film explained the criteria for being an alpha or an omega wolf because if it is athleticism, I see no difference.  How do they pick these life defining positions for their pack?

Why did Kate have to marry Garth in order to unite the pack.  Why not just unite the pack?  Let the wolves decide amongst themselves who they will marry.

There is a part in the middle of the film that is really frustrating to watch when Kate is trying to get home to save the pack and doesn't tell Humphrey why.  I wish she had just told him that lives were at stake, so they could be on the same page.

I also felt that Humphrey seemed to only care about being with Kate and not the safety of the pack even up until the end.

The bears who attack Kate and Humphrey seem to understand them to some capacity.  Why did they act like they did not understand that they were harmless?

And last of all I wish the film was not as comically driven as it was and more serious… even epic.  One film that did this kind of thing right was, The Lion King released in 1994.

I feel as if a more serious tale would have crossed the film over out of being a kid’s movie and more of a universally admired one.

And the film has such a great premise, I feel it’s wasted sometimes just for cheap laughs.

Enjoyment:
The movie didn't do well at the US box office, earning a little over $5 million, but internationally it grossed nearly $51 million.

And so besides having a small and growing following with kids and preteens, it is Crest Animations' and Lionsgate's most popular movie.

To be honest, I never knew anything about this movie until it kept popping up as a suggestion by the almighty algorithm living inside my computer.

When I saw the poster, I was stumped because the name of the film didn’t seem advertising friendly for a mass audience to easily remember.  Well what do I know because  there were several sequels to Alpha Omega.

It’s an entire franchise of movies?  Wow.  There must be something to these movies that they keep making them, with even more in development.

It seems to drive many movie reviewers crazy that there is such a ravenous audience for this film that keeps growing each year.

I haven't seen any of the sequels, but based on some of the thoughts around the internet, this one might be the lightning in a bottle for the franchise.  The others seem to have an even stronger appeal to preschoolers and gradeschoolers.

I nearly turned the movie off when I started watching it, because the animation is really blocky and a little jarring to the eye.  But after the story began to blossom, I got into it a little more.  By the end  found myself enjoying the film.

It’s really quite good!  That was a big surprise for me.

I personally liked many of the unique qualities about the film, using great voice actors and an interesting spin on the animal animated film genre.

It surprised me as it struck a sweet sentimental cord as well.  I loved it.


My Rating:
8.2


That sums up my review.  I hope you liked it.  This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off!

Take care movie lovers!  I'm off to the next review!

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