Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 16, 1994 TAG: 9404160053
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
This time out, young Henry Casey (Scott Bairstow) is living with the wolf-dog in frontier Alaska. The dog is clearly the brains of the outfit. He protects Henry from bad guys and even manages to appear in a dream of Moses Joseph (Al Harrington). Moses is chief of an unfortunate Indian tribe whose food supply, caribou, has vanished. In his dream, the wolf leads Lily (Charmaine Craig) to the elusive caribou.
Off she goes to fetch the spirit wolf. As luck would have it, she finds Henry instead. When Henry explains that he is not a wolf himself but he has good friend who is, Moses says, hey, close enough.
The rest of David Fallon's script is even sillier. It's made of familiar Hollywood stereotypes and trashes everything it touches; American Indian mysticism, Christian evangelism, animal behavior. But that probably won't bother most kids.
Director Ken Olin lets the action drag woefully in the middle. He does manage a flashy conclusion that has almost nothing to do with the rest of the story. Throughout, the Pacific Northwest scenery is spectacular.
As for the acting, the humans are consistently upstaged by their canine co-stars. Considering the story, that's as it should be.
White Fang 2: **
A Disney release playing at the Salem Valley 8. 103 min. Rated PG for mild violence.
by CNB