Silver Wolf

Beautiful cinematography, snowboarding, and nature shots are totally compromised by inane dialogue, unbridled hamhanded acting, and stupid plot developments. People who want to truly enjoy the Canadian wolves' place in nature as well as those who simply want to watch a good movie should rent Never Cry Wolf instead.

Roy Scheider gives the WORST performance of his career in this utterly stupid excuse for a nature flick. It doesn't help that the young man in the lead is completely inept as an actor. There really is no script other than good versus evil. There is some strikingly magnificent photography of the Canadian Rockies. That's about it for the plus column.

Here is the lowdown. A boy loses his father, and he goes to live with his uncle in a national park. Then he meets a wolf named "Silver". Unfortunately, he has to protect the wolf from a dangerous hunter.

Yeah, we've seen this before. In two embarrassing little kids movies, no less. Still, Shane Meier is such a great actor. He plays the main character so well. He also has great chemistry with Silver. I wish he was doing more projects, but apparently he's selling jeans in Vancouver. The other actors are really good as well.

Not a bad concept, and the acting makes the movie better than you'd expect.

Who can argue about the wholesome all-American(?) boy who rescues a wolf? I will attempt an argument.

I would like to think that in the 23 years since this movie was made that as a society we have become more sensitive as we learn to share, preserve, respect, and live with wild animals. They are not pets nor should we attempt to anthropomorphize them. A film like this sends the entirely wrong message, not just to kids but adults as well. I am amazed how it is that a story, an image, something on a TV or movie screen can be seen as reality, even if the movie is based on a true story. It is still just a story.

In Jean Stapleton's Foundation Interview she recounted an experience where she was working on another project at the time her character, Edith Bunker, died on All In the Family. The following morning she stepped out of her hotel room walking down the hall, and a housekeeper nearly fainted upon seeing her. "Didn't you die last night?". When the Beverly Hillbillies was first on the air, the tourists mobbed the home of Carlotta Kirkeby in Bel Air. There would be a knock at the door whereupon opening it the visitors would ask, "Are Jed and Granny around? Are Ellie May and Jethro home?" My point is that there seems to be a challenge for some to differentiate between entertainment and real life for whatever reason. The idea that you could rescue a wild animal, nurse it back to health, subdue it, put it on a leash and muzzle it creates an unrealistic and very tenuous line between story and reality. It creates unrealistic expectations that humans can rescue a wild animal in an attempt to help by just being kind and speaking softly.

Beyond this very flawed aspect, the sound track is utterly deplorable.

Ghastly. Horrible. Even though there are some beautiful scenes showing the incomparable majesty of British Columbia it's not enough to perform a movie rescue on this bit of cinema.

This heart warming story of a boy who recently lost his father and is displaced into a small close knit mountain community, brings a good story of coming of age tied nicely together with outstanding snowboarding and skijoaring footage right from the scenic mountains at Whistler/Blackcomb, British Columbia. Jesse not only has to deal with the death of his father, but moving in with his park ranger uncle and dealing with a new peer group that sees him as an urban wonder. Jesse befriends not only his nemesis' daughter but a wild but devoted wolf he promptly names 'Silver'. The movie concludes with a skijoaring race in which Jesse enters himself with a snowboard as opposed to skis, and a wild wolf instead of the family pet dog. This well acted and beautifully filmed picture is perfect for the whole family, and any one who is an admirer of the mountains, wolves, and of course, snowboarding.