Alfa

My wife and I watched this movie at home on DVD from our public library. The characters speak in a made-up language and the movie has subtitles in English.

This is your basic coming of age story, set about 20,000 years ago. A boy is growing into a man, his father is the leader of the tribe. They go on a hunt some distance away, the boy is to show his skills at catching and killing wildlife.

But things go very wrong for the boy, he ends up down a cliff, unreachable, and after considerable parental angst is presumed dead and they go on without him.

The boy does in fact survive, badly injured, and is able to begin his difficult trek to find his home, aided by night sky navigation his father taught him. Along the way he encounters a wounded wolf, the two eventually bond, and help each other as winter snows begin to fall. He names the wolf "Alpha."

The only "new" thing here is the setting long ago, the story of survival and a boy and his "dog" has been told before, but this is a nice, clean movie and for the most part entertaining to see the difficulties they encounter along the way back home.

The closing credits states Alberta, Canada was a primary filming location. And I was amazed at how many technicians were needed to do the post production work to finish the movie.

This prehistoric European film about a young man who is presumed lost while his tribe is on a hunt. Kodi Smit-McPhee stars as the young man in a primitive world who makes his way back to his family with the aid of a new best friend he's made, a wild dog whom he patched up and the two develop a co-dependency on each other in this first boy and a dog story.

Beautifully photographed in some stark vistas in British Columbia, the most amazing thing about this film that even with some cheating subtitles young Smit-McPhee with primeval grunts and gibberish to pass for caveman language conveys all the emotion of pages of dialog.

This one is a winner, highly recommended.

Alpha is a charming film. If you love dogs, then you're likely to love it. Recommended.

Expectations were through the roof after seeing this movie advertised for over a year. It lived up to about 70-70% of the hype

My whole family watched (14 & 16 yo included). Everyone loved it and rallied around the protagonist's journey and plights.

Subtitle driven, but not so much that it distracted from enjoying the movie. Movie almost did not require dialogue, but was a nice inclusion. And this is coming from a guy that avoids anything that gets Emmy awards or Sundance film festival recognition, as I like to enjoy my movies, not analyze them as if I was a movie critic trying to impress my peers. Basically my long winded way of saying, put the phone app down and go watch it.

I actually enjoyed this, it kept me guessing for quite a bit and as no major stars your not sure who's going to make it. Special effects and scenery were good and enjoyable to the end. I would say one of the best movies I've seen this year that's not superstar budget. Reminded me a bit of Apocalypto, that sort of movie