Silver Wolf

Here is the lowdown. A boy loses his father, and he goes to live with his uncle in a national park. Then he meets a wolf named "Silver". Unfortunately, he has to protect the wolf from a dangerous hunter.

Yeah, we've seen this before. In two embarrassing little kids movies, no less. Still, Shane Meier is such a great actor. He plays the main character so well. He also has great chemistry with Silver. I wish he was doing more projects, but apparently he's selling jeans in Vancouver. The other actors are really good as well.

Not a bad concept, and the acting makes the movie better than you'd expect.

Who can argue about the wholesome all-American(?) boy who rescues a wolf? I will attempt an argument.

I would like to think that in the 23 years since this movie was made that as a society we have become more sensitive as we learn to share, preserve, respect, and live with wild animals. They are not pets nor should we attempt to anthropomorphize them. A film like this sends the entirely wrong message, not just to kids but adults as well. I am amazed how it is that a story, an image, something on a TV or movie screen can be seen as reality, even if the movie is based on a true story. It is still just a story.

In Jean Stapleton's Foundation Interview she recounted an experience where she was working on another project at the time her character, Edith Bunker, died on All In the Family. The following morning she stepped out of her hotel room walking down the hall, and a housekeeper nearly fainted upon seeing her. "Didn't you die last night?". When the Beverly Hillbillies was first on the air, the tourists mobbed the home of Carlotta Kirkeby in Bel Air. There would be a knock at the door whereupon opening it the visitors would ask, "Are Jed and Granny around? Are Ellie May and Jethro home?" My point is that there seems to be a challenge for some to differentiate between entertainment and real life for whatever reason. The idea that you could rescue a wild animal, nurse it back to health, subdue it, put it on a leash and muzzle it creates an unrealistic and very tenuous line between story and reality. It creates unrealistic expectations that humans can rescue a wild animal in an attempt to help by just being kind and speaking softly.

Beyond this very flawed aspect, the sound track is utterly deplorable.

Ghastly. Horrible. Even though there are some beautiful scenes showing the incomparable majesty of British Columbia it's not enough to perform a movie rescue on this bit of cinema.

This heart warming story of a boy who recently lost his father and is displaced into a small close knit mountain community, brings a good story of coming of age tied nicely together with outstanding snowboarding and skijoaring footage right from the scenic mountains at Whistler/Blackcomb, British Columbia. Jesse not only has to deal with the death of his father, but moving in with his park ranger uncle and dealing with a new peer group that sees him as an urban wonder. Jesse befriends not only his nemesis' daughter but a wild but devoted wolf he promptly names 'Silver'. The movie concludes with a skijoaring race in which Jesse enters himself with a snowboard as opposed to skis, and a wild wolf instead of the family pet dog. This well acted and beautifully filmed picture is perfect for the whole family, and any one who is an admirer of the mountains, wolves, and of course, snowboarding.

Well, this is an AWEsome movie.Bein plays a pretty good part as the uncle and "Jesse" was pretty good too.Ecspecially at the snowboarding(if that was really him).But my absolute fav character of the whole entire show was the guy in the crowd at the end of the race scene.He's wearing a blue jacket and grey pants.He is over to the right and four people back.NO No no I was just joking.My fav character was, of course "SILVER".He was totally FANTASTIC.But that also may account because of my love for wolves and dogs.Especially WOLVES.

I love films like this. Films that try to put a positive spin on animals and many of the misconceptions that humans have towards them. Silver Wolf is a film that has it's heart in the right place. It is a good film with two film giants from days past. It is also a film that has a conscience and for that I really like it.

First I want to comment on the casting of the film. You have to like a film that has Reese and Martin Brody in a film together. Michael Biehn and Roy Scheider play the two lead adults in the film and it is fun to see two guys that were in two of the biggest film franchises ever, square off. I can't help it, every time I see Scheider I expect him to say " You're going to need a bigger boat. " But in here he plays a nasty man that seems to hunt wolves just because he can. He really is a bad man just for the sake of the movie needing a bad man. I didn't really understand his reasons for hating wolves in the first place but it's okay here because there is so much to like about the film that small things like that are easily overlooked.

The other two leads in the film are Jesse Meier as the young nephew of Biehn and Kimberly Warnat as Scheider's daughter. They are both quite good in their roles and I have to say that Warnat is quite the looker. Her beauty was one of the reasons that kept me watching the film when it was on viewers choice. After looking at her filmography in the IMDb you can see that she hasn't done a lot as of yet but I think she will become a star one day. She is a very good actress and she will continue to grow physically as well. Sorry if that sounds incredibly sexist, but hey, sue me, I'm a guy.

Silver Wolf has some incredible photography and it's choreographed snowboarding scenes are breathtaking and quick paced. But what I enjoyed most about the film was the relationship with Meier and the young wolf. The wolf takes to him after a while and they develop an honest friendship. When it is time for the wolf to go home to his family you are almost sad to see him go. But then to see a wild animal that was captive become free, well that makes the movie so much better. Silver Wolf has great intentions and it is entertaining. I think kids will like this movie but if you are a sucker for animals as beautiful as this, then you ( adults that is ) will probably enjoy it as well.

And remember, watch for the name Kimberly Warnat in the future, she will go on to do bigger films, I'm almost sure of it.