A Cry in the Wild

This movie completely missed the spirit of the book, which was about adapting to and living in harmony with nature. To be fair, the inner transformation and thoughts of Brian were going to be difficult to show on the big screen, but it feels like they didn't even try. They could have at least showed a physical transformation and used more scenes where Brian has to persist with a problem to solve it.

The story is set around a boy who is ditched into deep wilderness on his own, after a small plane crash. With no choice but to adapt, Brian has a hard time just finding food and shelter. In the book the experience is essentially one of growth and becoming a real man through tribulations. In the movie they have taken a less philosophical approach and have gone for straight action with little regard for character development. The scenes involving the bear are particularly ridiculous. I cant imagine Gary Paulsen the author would be very happy with this adaptation of his classic young teens novel.

The book is always better, let's face it. Hatchet is no exception, why the name A Cry in the Wild? Just seems odd. The casting of Brian was bad. In the book Brian was young but smart. In the movie he's just the goof ball neighbor kid from Honey I shrunk the kids. I now know why this movie is difficult to find and relatively unknown. It isn't bad, as a movie. A but rushed and bland mostly. Stick with the book. Hopefully they can make a better attempt someday. Also he says "I am Brian Robenson" and the end, yes he screwed up the last name of his character Brian Robeson!

This movie is the adaptation of Gary Paulsen's "Hatchet". It is a good representation of the movie, and very hard to find. It is good to have in school libraries, as "Hatchet" and other Paulsen books are so popular. While the cover may be misleading to those who want an "action" movie, the film is faithful to the book, which is on a middle-school, junior-high reading level. The acting is good. The outdoor scenes are great. The landscapes and weather conditions that contribute to the book's success are easily the best part of the movie. Brian, a child of a broken home, is sent to visit the father, but is involved in a plane crash when the pilot has a heart attack. Brian is stranded in the frozen wilderness for 52 days.

I had never read Gary Paulsen's novel, Hatchet, for which 'A Cry in the Wild' is the adaptation of, so I can't make any comparisons to the book. I will, however, say that as a film on its own, adaptation or no adaptation, it was an underdeveloped adventure that provides no major explanation of its few characters.

Think of 'A Cry in the Wild' as a less luxurious, teenage mountaineer (was Quincy, California the only place this was filmed?) version of 'Cast Away.' Jared Rushton is 13-year-old Brian Roebson, a kid headed on a small plane to visit his father, until the craft crashes over some deserted mountain terrain, leaving the kid stranded for quite a while and having to defend himself.

There are basically three parts to the film. The obvious being the ten or fifteen minute introduction of the characters, namely Brian and his mom.

The next third of the movie (which really consumes nearly all of the film) is that of Brian "roughing it." These scenes contain no particularly amazing action, nothing spectacular other than lots of beautiful cinematography of a beautiful Yukon landscape. Nothing to put you on edge, no real encounters (except a brisk confrontation with a cub), and no major dilemmas to initiate some sort of enjoyment or connection with the character on the screen. You might even feel briefly bored with the passage of time as we witness Brian dealing with his situation through first, primitive means, and then more improved ones (using tools, etc) for his survival. It is more like the ordinary time that passes if you were actually stuck in the situation, and that is pretty much about it. In other words, they put no meat on the Paulsen's words when they translated them into a visual media.

And, of course, the third part of the movie is his rescue.

There is a subplot that continuously seeks to make itself known during this time, however. Some conflict between Brian and his parents that created a rocky, awkward relationship between them. However, for the most part, it is only explained in brief, intermittent, minimal dialog flashbacks that look more like a back story for a music video. Any minute, the singer from Jefferson Starship, should chime in an start singing 'Sara.' Other than what the viewer can draw from the implications, or guess for his own need to fill the gaps in the narrative, we get a very underdeveloped back story which was probably necessary to enjoy at least part of this film and create a connection to the characters, whether or not it really had anything to do with Brian's survival adventure in the third part of the movie. These are the flaws in the narrative that through the viewer into a stupor as he struggles to find out what the heck those people there on the screen are doing and, for me, almost done to the point of screaming at the television to say something and tell me more!

It certainly was not, for me, a good adventure tale. But, for fans of Jared Rushton, it was one of the last few movies he made. So, watch it purely for nostalgia, if nothing else.

I sat through this entire film despite the fact that I thought it was really bad from start to finish. I was wondering how many more clichés they could cram into this turkey.

The flashbacks were bad, the acting was bad, the set pieces were thrown together badly. We had no idea if anybody was even looking for this kid once he crashed. As soon as the plane crashed I kept saying I hope he's gonna go back and get the survival stuff from the plane, but it's not until the end of the movie when for some unknown reason the plane floats to the surface of the lake, that he finally gets the kit (?)

as for the "fight" with the bear...pulease!!!

I guess the movie is aimed at young ones and that's about the only group that will see anything good in this film.