Who knew people had pets 20,000 years ago?! Alpha is a strenuous survival story that has its moments of pure beauty and heart-tugging; yet, the overall execution is a generic one, surrounded by familiarity of a road we’ve been down before. Director Albert Hughes (The Book of Eli) does not seem challenged enough to make his man’s best friend origin tale the epic he perhaps saw in his head. Still, the extraordinary struggle and perseverance that is displayed by youngster Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road, Let Me In) and his four-legged friend is beyond inspiring. No one can deny that.
Keda (Smit-McPhee) is physically the most unripe hunter of his tribe. He’s nothing like his father and fearless leader Chief Tau (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhanneson). And while a sensitive kid, he’s also a clever one. This certainly comes in handy after Keda is abandoned by his tribe and thought to be dead after being tossed over a cliff by a burly bison. Now left all alone in the wilderness with only broken bones and a tribal tattoo to aim toward the stars to help guide him home, Keda will have to become the man his father was hoping he would one day be.
Staying alive is the name of the game, and while nearly becoming a snack for a pack of wolves, Keda defends himself and almost kills one of them. Empathy is in his veins as he not only nurses himself back to health but the wolf (who he later names Alpha) as well. This is when Hughes starts to put their quest in motion while also letting the audience enjoy some firsts of a boy and his dog like whistling and fetch. It is quite adorable.
But, Keda and Alpha’s trek back home is torturous to the nth degree. And just as luck would have it, it’s all occurring during the last Ice Age. But, Hughes’ narrative is conventional in almost every way imaginable. He never takes us places, no matter how breathtaking they may be, that we don’t already see coming. This family film’s harsh realities are too recognizable.
Alpha is left standing mainly for its message of learning to lead, earning your place, and the outstanding bond between humans and animals. The crucial companionship between the two is compelling and just too damn cute.
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter@SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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