a review of 野性的呼唤

#93 (April 3/30) (Review is for the MST3K version, now on Netflix.) First of all, the pacing issues of the previous episode are now mostly absent, with the principals all settling into the familiar rhythm quickly. I'll be curious to see if they introduce any little differences into the show open as we go, to reinforce the illusion that Jonah is literally re-enacting it every episode. As for the movie, what can be said? This is a glorious mess that never seems to know quite what it wants to be. Is it a kids' movie in the tradition of E.T. and Harry and the Hendersons? Is it a crunchy-'70s environmentalist wildlife-preservation story? Is it a man-vs.-nature survival story? Is it an insane acid-western vision quest a la Jodorowsky? There's a neck-snapping tonal shift about every 20 minutes in this movie, and it's hard to understand the filmmakers' intent at any given point. The beginning of the film teases a heartwarming boy-meets-Bigfoot story that turns out to only be backstory, so the whole movie feels like a sequel to a more fun movie that never existed. It's legitimately baffling, to the point that you wonder why nobody stepped in to tell them to make that movie instead.