Alpha

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

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.

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.

Wow what an actual surprise. This movie was delayed many times. Originally scheduled to release in September 2017 it was pushed to March 2018 then to September 2018 then back a month to August 2018 ultimately. The reason for these delays? I'm not even quite sure. The first trailers showed a very dark story (which it kinda is), but then newer trailers showed off a bit more of a family friendly "kid gets prehistoric dog" sort of story. The story takes place 20,000 years ago in Europe following a young man named Keda (Kodi Smit-McPhee). who has finally joined his father Chief Tau (Johannes Haukur Johannesson) on their tribes yearly hunt. First off this movie is shot beautifully. Some of the best cinematography I've seen for any movie in 2018. It does a great job even in the opening sequence of hunting the bison of just getting color palettes down and giving a sense of dread. The performances are also something that excels in this movie. Johannesson as Chief Tau is just great. He has such a believable love for his son and their chemistry is great. Smit-McPhee as well is excellent and he really grows as a character here. They even created a language they use but even with it being non english the emotions run high in this one. I loved Alpha as well the wolf has a lot of emotions shown through its actions and some slight use of CG. My one gripe here is the last ten minutes get just a bit too Hollywood for me and although there's a twist to the entire story I still wanted it to change it slightly, but without spoiling it it actually makes sense it's just personal preference. Overall, solid movie that suffered from some really bad marketing. I would say if you missed this one to begin with definitely give it a look!

I'm giving this movie an 8 for story, casting and acting of the main actor and a 6 for all the CGI pervading the film, so a 7 in total. As others have noted, this is a beautiful story in its endearing simplicity, and the main actor plays it all very well. Yet, I'm not a fan of all the CGI used by the moviemakers. All these computerised images really do taint the enjoyment of a movie such as this one.