The Call of the Wild 4K UHD (2020)

[Viking61]

The Call of the Wild 4K UHD Blu-ray

[Bostonyte]

IMHO, CGI dog is killing it for me

[Scottishguy]

[guachi]

So it's not my imagination the dog is CGI.

I'd rather watch an old Lassie movie.

[gates70]

Didn't even know this movie existed! I love HF so I'll look into this.

[Ray Jackson]

Having a 100% CGI dog is a sign of the Apocalypse.

[Scottishguy]

The only way I'd accept the CGI dog, is. If this was an adaptation of Duck Hunt with Harrison Ford.

[zw94]

This movie will tank at the Box Office and the 4K release will be cancelled.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by guachi

So it's not my imagination the dog is CGI.

I'd rather watch an old Lassie movie.

or Milo & Otis

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Having a 100% CGI dog is a sign of the Apocalypse.

I literally shuddered when Ford stated on the Ellen show he spent a lot of time filming this and specifically staring and reacting to a guy with balls on him. (LOL)

[Scottishguy]

Originally Posted by zw94

This movie will tank at the Box Office and the 4K release will be cancelled.

I don't see much out cry if that's the case.

[jFug]

I couldn't help but cringe when I saw this preview in the theater.

Could they not have at least used a real dog for the more tame scenes?

I think of films like Homeward Bound and then I look at this and shake my head.

[Scottishguy]

The CGI dog looks worse than that first Sonic character model. There, I said it.

[Viking61]

Best Buy pre-order.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/the-cal...?skuId=6402028

Target pre-order.
https://www.target.com/p/the-call-of...d/-/A-79620067

[Schwartzy]

Originally Posted by Scottishguy

The CGI dog looks worse than that first Sonic character model. There, I said it.

I dont think the cgi looks bad but the over animated expressions ect...

Also Some reviews said that the cgi is improved from the trailer.

https://youtu.be/_cfOS75Rjms

[Alwayshappy]

I don’t mind the CGI. Looking forward to this one!

[Resettito]

Soooo, because there's a lot of ignorance out there. Here's Chris Sanders (the director) EXPLAINING why Buck had to be CG, why he looks the way he does (and no, the VFX is not at fault), in addition to Michael Green (writer, exec producer) saying it was also for ethics and safety reasons:

https://www.indiewire.com/2020/02/th...rd-1202212225/

"With Buck, the famed St. Bernard/Farm Collie, serving as the protagonist in Fox’s latest adaptation of Jack London’s wilderness adventure, “The Call of the Wild,” there was never any question that he had to be CG, especially if he was going to hold his own on screen with Harrison Ford.

“Here’s the thing: No one is fooled by a CG animal,” said Chris Sanders, who made the transition from animation to a live-action/hybrid after directing “The Croods” and co-directing “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Lilo and Stitch.” “So the question that I confronted early on was: Do we try and make this look like a 100% real dog? Meaning, do we actually have him behaving as though he’s a trained dog on set, but doesn’t hit his marks quite right, and have some takes look as though it was good enough? Or do we have him fulfill the needs of the scene?”"


"Sanders, of course, went with the latter, working with MPC Film in Montreal (under the supervision of Erik Nash) to make a photorealistic-looking Buck. However, unlike MPC’s work on Jon Favreau’s “The Lion King,” Sanders chose an anthropomorphic style of performance to make Buck as expressive and relatable as possible for his existential journey in the Yukon Gold Rush of the 1890s. “If an animal talks, [as on ‘The Lion King’], you don’t need a lot of expression,” he added. “You have that shortcut. We didn’t have that shortcut. That was the big question that hung over everything we did ”"

"“I chose to have [Buck] be a real character and to really occupy the position where he belongs. In every other version of ‘The Call of the Wild,’ the dog is never really central because Thornton is. We wanted to overcome the limitations of using a real dog. We could only do this with a CG dog. I do think there is a controversial part to that [with how expressive he is]. You get used to it really fast. But we had to judge the performance moment to moment: Is he too cartoony? Does the audience get what he’s thinking?”"

"Yet the animation process proved difficult. They weren’t able to locate the precise St. Bernard/Farm Collie breed for live-action reference, so they went with a mostly black Bernese Mountain dog, and MPC built a CG model from scratch. Yet the dark color didn’t read clearly for the night scenes. Then Sanders’ wife, Jessica, came to the rescue, locating a St. Bernard/Shepherd mix at a shelter in Emporia, Kansas (coincidentally, named Buckley). "

"Motion capture actor Terry Notary (“The Planet of the Apes” franchise) served as a live actor stand-in for Buck. He acted like a canine and provided spatial reference, general blocking, and staging, giving the actors someone to play against. Sanders, though, would instruct MPC animation director Omar Morsy and his team to use Notary’s facial expressions or attitude in a particular shot as a starting point for Buck. Yet there was no mo-cap interpolation of Notary’s performance involved: Every aspect of Buck’s facial and full body performance was fully keyframed.

[murakaz]

Originally Posted by Resettito

“do we actually have him behaving as though he’s a trained dog on set, but doesn’t hit his marks quite right, and have some takes look as though it was good enough? Or do we have him fulfill the needs of the scene?”"
(...)
"“I chose to have [Buck] be a real character and to really occupy the position where he belongs. In every other version of ‘The Call of the Wild,’ the dog is never really central because Thornton is. We wanted to overcome the limitations of using a real dog. We could only do this with a CG dog. I do think there is a controversial part to that [with how expressive he is]. You get used to it really fast. But we had to judge the performance moment to moment: Is he too cartoony? Does the audience get what he’s thinking?”"

I've seen this trailer in front of nearly every movie I've seen the last couple months, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't getting more used to the dog's design each time. Was unsure about it at first, but I've warmed up to it considerably. Once you consider all the intense things the dog goes through in the trailer alone, the idea of exclusively using the CGI stand-in so that its usage doesn't distract from the story makes more sense.

I know it ultimately won't matter as people get hung up on the weirdest things sometimes, but hopefully it can still be somewhat successful.

[TXMoviebuff77]

Lol safety reasons, they do know dogs can be trained or can survive in harsh environments, it’s in their nature. This movie’s a joke & wtf was Ford thinking? Guess he needed a check?

[Mosley likes BFDI]

I really hope this gets a 4K Blu-ray release in both the US and the UK!