Alpha and Omega
| ♥ | This article is dedicated to the late Dennis Hopper (1936-2010). May he rest in peace. |
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 This movie definitely putted the wolves on the endangered species list.
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Alpha and Omega is a 2010 American computer-animated film directed by Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck. Starring the voices of Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Dennis Hopper, Danny Glover and Christina Ricci, the film was written by Christopher Denk and Steve Moore, based on a story by Moore and Gluck. This film sets around two young Rocky Mountain wolves named Kate and Humphrey who fall in love with each other but are on the opposite ends of their pack. However, when Kate and Humphrey learn that they got relocated to Idaho for re-population, they must work together to get back to Jasper Park before a war slowly begins to emerge between both packs. It serves as the first installment in the Alpha and Omega series.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2010 and was released nationwide in 2-D and 3-D on September 17, 2010, by Lionsgate Films. The film was dedicated to the memory of Dennis Hopper, as he died from prostate cancer four months before it was released, and this was his final performance prior to his death.
Although it received negative reviews, the film eventually turned into a franchise of direct-to-video sequels including Alpha and Omega 2: A Howl-iday Adventure, which was released on October 8, 2013. Another sequel, Alpha and Omega 3: The Great Wolf Games, was released on March 25, 2014. Alpha and Omega 4: The Legend of the Saw-Tooth Cave was released on September 23, 2014. Alpha and Omega 5: Family Vacation was released to DVD on August 4, 2015. Alpha and Omega 6: Dino Digs was released on DVD and Digital HD on May 10, 2016. It was followed by Alpha and Omega 7:The Big Fur-eeze, which was released on November 8, 2016. The eighth and final installment, Alpha and Omega 8: Journey to Bear Kingdom was released on DVD and Digital HD on May 9, 2017.
Plot
In Alberta, Canada's Jasper National Park, Omega wolf Humphrey (voiced by Justin Long) and his Omega friends attempt to log board down a hill. However, the plan goes entirely wrong as they try to maneuver the log down the mountain. Meanwhile, Alpha wolf Kate practices her hunting skills on her younger Omega sister, Lilly, much to her annoyance. Humphrey and Kate join each other mid air, excited to see each other again. However, Humphrey begins to feel nauseated by their spinning, and the two fall onto the ground. As Humphrey tries to join Kate, Winston, leader of the Western pack and Kate's father, stops Humphrey in pursuing her. He reminds Humphrey that Alphas and Omegas cannot mate according to pack law, and that Kate is going off to Alpha school until Spring. Humphrey looks on, saddened by her departure.
Spring time comes around, and both Kate and Humphrey mature. Humphrey and his friends seem to master the ways of log boarding, but their fun stops short when they crash into a rock. They then see Kate on her first ever hunt, pursuing a herd of caribou. As Kate and her team close in on the caribou, they are interrupted by a group of two enemy Eastern pack wolves, which causes a stampede. As Kate saves the two Eastern wolves from getting trampled, the Western pack wolves start a fight. Humphrey and his friends then break up the conflict. Later that night, Winston meets up with Eastern pack leader Tony, as they discuss the pack's food shortage. The two then agree that merging the packs together would end their conflict, and decide that Kate should marry Tony's Alpha son, Garth. Kate, overhearing their conversation, agrees for the good of the pack.
During the Moonlight Howl (the howling between wolves), Kate and Garth finally meet. Garth tries to show off his howl, but Kate is unimpressed and excuses herself. She then runs into Humphrey, but the two get tranquilized by park rangers and are taken to Sawtooth National Recreation Area in Idaho. The two meet golfing goose Marcel and his duck caddie Paddy. Kate and Humphrey learn that they were relocated to repopulate the species, and agree that they must return home to Jasper Park before the two packs start a war. As the packs discover that Kate has gone missing, Tony warns Winston that if Kate does not return, war will be inevitable. Lilly decides to show Garth around the Western pack's territory until Kate returns, and the two fall in love.
As Kate and Humphrey catch a ride on an RV, Humphrey has to urinate and gets out while the vehicle pulls over at a nearby gas station. He then finds a cupcake and eats it, as the frosting covers his mouth. Two men mistake him for a wolf with rabies, and they attempt to shoot Humphrey with a gun. Kate then leaps out to save him, and the two flee. Kate, disappointed that they missed their ride home, leaves Humphrey out in the rain. Now traveling alone in the storm, Kate comes across a dangerous ravine, which has begun to flood. As Kate tries to cross it, she slips, and Humphrey comes to her rescue. Flattered by his bravery, Kate begins to admire Humphrey. The following day, Marcel and Paddy find the wolves and direct them to a train heading to Jasper Park. Climbing over the snowy mountain, Humphrey finds a grizzly bear cub, and the two play as Kate goes to scout a head. As Humphrey throws snow at the cub, the cub begins to cry, which attracts an angry trio of grizzly bears. As the wolves slide off the side of the mountain, Humphrey and Kate ride on a log and manage to board the train.
As the two joke about their encounter with the bears, Kate and Humphrey begin to bond even closer. Back at home, Lilly compassionately teaches Garth how to howl. At the same time, Humphrey gazes at the full moon and begins to howl, urging Kate to howl with him. Although it is against pack law for an Alpha to howl with an Omega, both couples begin to howl, falling in love. As Lilly and Garth finish their howling, Tony catches them, and ultimately declares war on the Western pack. As the train passes by Jasper, Kate and Humphrey's exchange of feelings is cut short by the sight of the two packs at war. As they return, Kate announces that she will still marry Garth to unite the packs. The day of the wedding, a distraught Humphrey bids farewell to Kate, and decides to leave as a lone wolf, much to Kate's disappointment.
During the ceremony, Kate backs out and declares her love for Humphrey, as Garth subsequently declares his love for Lilly. Tony, enraged, declares war on the Western pack, and a large fight ensues. Their brawl is cut short by an oncoming stampede of caribou alerted by the battle, and Winston and Tony get stuck between it. Humphrey, who had chosen to stay behind, and Kate cross paths, and work together by log boarding down the mountain to save them. They succeed, but Kate gets struck by the caribou in the process. As the stampede subsides, Humphrey tries to wake up Kate to no avail. Heartbroken, Humphrey begins to howl, causing everyone to howl with him. Kate then awakens to everyone's joy, and she and Humphrey confess their love for each other, as Garth and Lilly confess theirs. Winston and Tony abolish the law against mating between Alphas and Omegas, and accept a union of the two packs via marriages between Garth and Lilly, and Kate and Humphrey. At the Moonlight Howl, the wolves celebrate the Union of The Two Packs, and the film ends with a married Humphrey and Kate howling a duet.
Bad Qualities
- Mediocre-looking CGI animation that looks dated, with special mention going to the "Caribou Stamped Scene" during the climax which looks like something out of an old GameCube, PlayStation 2 and/or Xbox game then a Feature Length Film made in 2010. Even a deleted scene in the Blu-Ray's special features has CGI animation that looks better than the film's final result.
- The script feels very bland and boring, and some of the lines feels very annoying.
- Predictable and overused plot and also has several overused cliches.
- Repeats an old, false idea about how wolf packs function that was based on how captive wolves which did not grow up together behave in zoos. Only somehow, this pack doesn't even have any beta wolves.
- Very terrible jokes, which mainly consist of sexual innuendos that feels very out-of-place (infamously including what appears to be a pun based on the anatomical features of wolf penises) and urination jokes.
- Humphrey is supposed to be a good-natured prankster, but in his first interaction with Garth he comes across as spiteful and petty, for no other reason than he's jealous.
- The romance between Kate and Humphrey feels forced and poorly-written.
- Some scenes are a rip-off of The Lion King, even the "Caribou Stamped Scene" is very similar to the famous Stamped Scene.
- In this film, the wolfs that are suppose to be quadrupedal are shown as being Bipedal (being able to walk on two legs), which in a very similar vain to the infamous game Animal Soccer World, can somewhat negatively affect the intellect of kids watching this film and thus think that these creatures are bipedal when they are not (very few dogs are able to walk bipedally for a long time, even though the organism is obligatory quadrupedal).
- A random and out-of-nowhere mean-spirited moment were a baby bear comes out to play with Humphrey, they both have fun, but then all is stop when Humphrey accidentally hits the baby bear in the nose, causing them to cry.
- The film's message is about love transcending rigid social roles, which is a pretty good message in itself. Unfortunately, the sequels retroactively ruin it by showing exactly why Kate and Humphrey should never have gotten together.
- No real villain, besides Tony but even then he reforms.
- Hollow logs do not, in fact, make good sleds (the same thing can be also said in Arctic Dogs).
- On that topic, this movie is infamous for spawning seven sequels from 2013 to 2017, all of which had none of the original actors returning.
- And because of this, they created corgi-looking wolf pups named Claudette, Stinky, and Runt that would later become the even bad protagonists of the sequels.
- Somehow a shotgun has enough firepower to rip a wired fence apart, which makes this scene impossible and unrealistic.
- The infamous Moonlight Howl scene, though the song is nice to hear, the dance numbers the wolves do is uncomfortable to watch and out-of-place in a film made for kids.
- Specie mention goes to the scene were the two wolves does a "Sucky Sucky" posse.
- And to make matters worse the lyrics of the song are just howling.
- They've milked the franchise WAY too much having not one, not two, but seven sequels.
- Overall, the film not only foreshadowed the downfall of Lionsgate, but also started the complete downfall of Crest Animation as a whole.
Good Qualities
- While Kate and Humphrey's romance feel forced as they spend most of their screen-time arguing, the subplot focusing on Garth and Lilly is very well developed and genuinely sweet.
- Some of the characters are likable, such as Garth and Lilly, who are incredibly popular.
- Despite most of the jokes being terrible, some of the one-liners can be genuinely funny.
- The "Love Train" sequence, which is easily the best part of the movie, and the entire franchise.
- Good voice acting. It's also noting to be the only film to feature the original voice cast, who were later replaced by anime dubbing actors, and it was agreed by fans that the original voice cast to be way better than the replacement actors.
- Some of the backgrounds, although a little blurry, are admittedly pretty beautiful.
- The depiction of humans as actually trying to help the wolves repopulate rather than as evil eco-thugs is somewhat more nuanced than most kids' films that have anything to do with the environment.
- The soundtrack is pretty good.
- Compared to the later seven sequels, this is the only tolerable film of the franchise.
Reception
Alpha and Omega hold an approval rating of 18% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 57 reviews; the site's consensus is: "With bland visuals and a dull, predictable plot, Alpha and Omega is a runt in 2010's animated litter." At Metacritic, the film has a score of 36 out of 100 based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Andrew Barker of Variety gave the film a mixed review, writing: "Not without charm, Lionsgate's 3D animated pic is agreeably unambitious." Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Abounding in dumb jokes that kids are bound to like but sometimes too scary for very young viewers, the movie -- also going out in 2D -- takes too long to find its footing and at best is proficient, not exhilarating."
Box office
Despite being critically panned, Alpha and Omega was a box-office success, grossing $50.5 million against a budget of $20 million.
Videos
Trivia
- This was Dennis Hopper's last film before he passed away of prostate cancer before the film was released and this film was dedicated to his memory.
- It was Lionsgate's highest grossing animated feature, before 2017 when it was dethroned by the more well-received My Little Pony: The Movie (2017).
- The license plate on the camping couple's truck reads "A113". This refers to a classroom at CalArts, which they also use A113 in every Pixar movie as an "easter egg cameo".
- Steve Moore originally intended to give the movie a slightly darker and more serious story, but Lionsgate wanted it to be aimed more towards children, leading the original script to be re-written.
- It has its own movie tie-in game on the Nintendo DS.
- In the IMDb trivia, it's mention that the movie has a "cult following" and a "decent fanbase" that's completely true and false (in a good kind of way). Given that the plausible reason it has a "cult following" was because of not only furries, but it was the most talked about film on YouTube at the time (which it got mixed to negative reviews from both movie critics/reviewers). And the fanbase is the complete opposite of "decent", given that they revealed their darker side on the internet. Some examples included drawing some very questionable content on DeviantArt, and lashing out at movie reviewers on YouTube (more infamously, Bobsheaux) with their toxic comments.
- Although it was never confirmed by Lionsgate, it's been said that the movie was originally meant to have only one sequel, originally planned for a theatrical release, with the same cast and crew from the first movie returning. And reportedly, the original script had nothing to do with Christmas OR the pups. However, it's unknown why this idea was cancelled to be replaced with the infamous seven sequels we know today.
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