Alpha et Omega

"Alpha and Omega" is your standard kiddy flick of conflict and resolution with much detail to the 3D imagery and not enough to keep Mom and Dad entertained. The story brings nothing new to the party; it's like the friend that you invite and tell him to bring a side dish. "Toy Story 3" spends all night baking cookies for everyone. "Despicable Me" puts forth an effort by bringing barbecue weenies in a Crock Pot. "How to Train Your Dragon" takes the time and mixes 7-Up and punch. Then there is "Alpha and Omega," who stops at the local gas station and picks up a fun sized bag of Doritos for itself and arrives 30 minutes late.

The story begins by introducing us to the main characters, Humphrey (voiced by Justin Long, the guy from the Apple commercials) as the Omega wolf and Kate (voiced by Hayden Panettiere from "Heroes"), as the Alpha wolf. They are acquaintances at the beginning of the movie, where it is hinted at that Humphrey has a crush on Kate. After a winter at Alpha school Kate is being trained to become a leader of the pack and Humphrey is still palling around with his knucklehead friends.

Humphrey and Kate's wolf pack has a rival pack that is trying to take the caribou hunting from them. That doesn't fare well with Winston (voiced by Danny Glover) who is not only the leader of the pack but also Kate's father. And, who is the leader of the rival pack? It's Tony (voiced by Dennis Hopper, in his last film), who has some unexplained history with Winston. Tony. Really? This great wolf is the leader, the old wise sage, and that's the best name they could come up with? Tony the Wolf. Sounds too much like Tony the Tiger.

Humphrey is in love with Kate but she is arranged to be courted by the rival pack's Alpha male, Garth. The packs have a ritual where the adolescents meet at a mountain in Jasper National Park to howl at the moon. It's comparable to going to a junior high dance at the taxidermy display inside a Cabela's. There was a song and dance element here that felt out of place. I felt uncomfortable to see these wolves dance seductively together in a kid's film. At that point, I understood why wolves chewed off their own leg when caught in a trap.

At the "howling" Humphrey and Kate are hit with a dart gun and transported from their park in Canada to a park in Idaho. Here they are set free and it's up to them to find a way back home.

The couple is eventually befriended by Marcel, some sort of a cross between a Canadian goose and either a bald eagle or a vulture (I couldn't tell) and his side kick Paddy, a yellow duck. These two birds are avid golfers. Hitting the golf ball gives the movie a reason to exploit their 3D technology. Hey, you paid for it; you might as well use it, right guys?

Marcel and Paddy keep showing up during the movie to act as guides for Humphrey and Kate. It's not fully explained how these four keep running into each other but it just so happens that they always show up at the right time.

The rest of the picture is about how Humphrey and Kate work as a team to get back home while realizing an Alpha and Omega wolf can have deep feelings for each other.

Should you see this movie? Nope. It was trying to be kiddy movie with goofy elements of bathroom humor and at the same time a movie with adult themes about falling in love.

The 3D action sequences were well done. There were several scenes of Humphrey finding old trees to slide down hills and incorporate the first and second person angles of sliding. And, as my 11-year-old daughter pointed out, whenever these wolves needed an old tree to use as a sled it just so happened to be within reaching distance. How many dead trees are there in a forest?

If you absolutely feel that you still need to go, bring your kids if they are under the age of 10 and if they have very little imagination on their own. Or just wait until it's out on DVD because after you spend $10 each you won't be howling with excitement, it will be more of a whimper.

Cartoon about 2 wolves, an alpha (Panettiere) and an omega (Long),who get relocated to Idaho and there journey back home. Two wolves that are unable to "be" together get captured and relocated to another park halfway across the country. They set out for home with help from some very funny friends. Being a kids movie not much really to review, (except my kids really liked it). For the adults who watch this I really found it to be a metaphor for a class based system of the haves and have-nots. I may have read too much into it, but it makes a good point of love conquering all, no matter who or what you are. Deep enough? There were some really funny scenes in this but it is definitely a kids movie. Adults won't be totally bored, but don't expect "Shrek" type humor in this. I give it a B-, My kids give it an A.

If you understand at the get go that this movie was not made to amaze and simply for family enjoyment then you won't be let down...

Animation has certainly diversified over the years, leading to films which are described as breathtaking (Pixar for example), appealing to a much wider audience. This movie will probably please younger kids more, but the story is cute and so are the characters.

Overall, it has a Romeo and Juliet vibe, with an Omega wolf named Humphrey falling in love with an Alpha named Kate, which is of course forbidden! They end up being relocated to "repopulate" and must find their way back to prevent a fallout between two rival packs.

One thing I don't understand is the need for two alphas from each side to marry in order to prevent conflict, as surely this could be achieved by other means? Either way, I try not to overanalyse a children's movie and enjoy it for what it is.

The animation is quite simple and sometimes clunky, but I guess you could argue that it's stylised. I like the design of the wolves, but am not a big fan of the bears and some other minor characters as I feel they don't fit in. Overall, I say if you want some family entertainment this one will certainly do no harm, although it's not on the same level as some other films released in 2010, such as "How To Train Your Dragon" or "Toy Story 3".

The story in Alpha and Omega was rather traditional but it still retained enough originality to be entertaining. Most of the originality comes into play with the script which I found had plenty of laughs for both children and adults. The subtle and frequent sexual innuendos caught me by surprise and made me laughing out loud several times throughout the film. It appears as if, judging by other reviews om IMDb, most people overlooked this humor. Even the jokes aimed at children were fairly tolerable most of the time. I actually enjoyed the voice acting and dialog in Alpha and Omega more than Toy Story 3.

The Achilles heel of Alpha and Omega comes into play with the animation which would be better suited for a slap stick weekly Nickelodeon cartoon show. This, combined with the questionable art direction of the wolves overly human stature, added a very child-like feel that distracted me from the well written dialog. The poor animation quality is particularly evident in the "howling" scene which left a lot more to be desired design wise.

I enjoyed the film enough to watch "The Making of" featurette which indirectly explained why the animation was so horrible... it turns out that all of the animation was outsourced to India. I was extremely disappointed when I found out. Art is the last thing that needs to be outsourced when there are so many ready and willing production facilities in America to take the business. American companies outsource far too many products already, lets not let them outsource our films.

All-in-all I liked the movie but the fact that the creators completely ignored the quality of the CG is unforgivable. I'm being a little optimistic with my rating of a 7, it was that distracting.

This movie was great for an animated movie. The animation was great, they had a decent soundtrack, the characters were fun, and if you show this to your kids, they will like it. But, the plot was predictable at times, some of the jokes were corny. But over all this is OK since it is an animated movie that has a target audience of 8 or 9 year olds. It really just depends on if you like these kind of movies or not. Personally, this is one of my favourite animated movies of all time. Maybe that is because I am an animal lover and wolves are my favourite animal. Basically, I loved this movie and I hope you found this review helpful. Thanks!