Here’s my review of White Fang released on Netflix. Even if you’ve read the Jack London novel, this movie holds its share of surprises, so I will avoid spoiling them in this review.
Overview: The movie covers the life of White Fang. At first, he’s a wolf pup living in the woods with his wolf-dog mother. One day, the mother kills a lynx to defend White Fang, but she gets injured in the process. As famine looms upon them, they approach a Native American settlement. White Fang thus gets tamed by the village chief and becomes a sled dog. Later, White Fang finds himself in a Yukon town where a cruel man beats him into participating in dog fights. Soon though, White Fang is rescued by a kindly marshal and his wife. With them, he learns to trust humans again and to control his killer instincts. The story ends when a criminal comes to seek revenge on the marshal.
Review: I really loved this movie! The animation was beautiful and the story was enthralling. I thought everything worked well together, from the Native people to the devious villains to the friendly couple. I suppose it will mostly please animation lovers as it might be too serious for children and too tame for fans of the Jack London novel. The story has been sanitized of most of its deaths, so I don’t think children would have a problem watching it, but the tone is pretty dark nonetheless. If anything, it reminded me of The Fox and the Hound, which is also about dogs and also pretty brutal. Of course the setting reminded me of Balto, but Balto is a lot lighter in tone.
Unlike in The Fox and the Hound and Balto, the dogs in White Fang do not “talk”. I consider that a strength of the movie as it forces the filmmakers to tell the story visually. The scenes where White Fang lives in the wood with his mother are completely dialogue-free and they are some of the best in the movie. I could have watched hours of that. It’s adorable to see how the wolf-dogs move, emote and explore their environment. I think the animators did a fantastic job with the dogs and with setting. The beautiful nature of the Yukon territory is showcased with absolute splendor. The only thing I didn’t like about the movie was that it began with a flash-forward.
Though it deviates from the novel, the movie does a good job of portraying how White Fang is torn between his wolf nature and his dog nature. A couple of times we see him look at the moon and we can tell he considers running away to be wild again. Also silently conveyed is his mix of attraction and fear towards the wolves. Another theme of the novel is that nature is violent and merciless, and that humans are the same. This is successfully conveyed through the famine, the brief encounter with the lynx and the wolves, and the human antagonists. The main difference thematically is that the Native American character is a lot more virtuous in the movie than in the book.
Verdict: Definitely a must-watch for animation lovers. I hope we can motivate Netflix to choose more animated films so that animation can continue to grow more diverse.
Rating: 
Bonus: I’ve compiled a list of animated Netflix originals (or movies that weren’t released theatrically before appearing on Netflix, even if they are not branded “Netflix original”).
- Netflix movies I’ve reviewed: Underdogs, The Little Prince, Sahara, The Guardian Brothers, Barbie Starlight Adventure, Barbie: Video Game Hero, White Fang.
- Netflix movies I haven’t reviewed: Deep, Monster Island, Monster Family, Pirate’s Passage.
- Upcoming Netflix movies (that I know of): Duck Duck Goose, Flavors of Youth, Next Gen, Klaus, Over the Moon, Bubbles, America: The Motion Picture, Wendell and Wild.
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