"Surviving the Wild" is an adventure story with some quirky characters and humor. It doesn't have quite the thrill of Jack London's "White Fang," the novel that the young protagonist is reading during the film. The conceit of the film is that a young boy's deceased grandfather serves as his guide on his journey to scatter the grandfather's ashes in a favorite mountain site.
The boy travels alone withonly his backpack and his faithful dog Riley. But the grandfather is with him in spirit. And, in the case of this film, the grandfather, as played with great gusto by Jon Voigt, is with the boy in presence as well.
Some of the best moments of the film are the wise sayings of the wise guy grandfather. While some of his jokes fall flat, his advice is rich in wisdom. He counsels the boy to remember the "Rule of Threes"--3 minutes without air; 3 hours without regulated body temp; 3 days without water; 3 weeks without food. The boy loses his backpack in the fierce river rapids and is briefly unconscious. No problem. There is always the "Rule of Three" as a guide to survival.
The journey of the boy is filled with almost every conceivable occurrence, including the lost backpack, a near attack from a bear, and the appearance of two scary backwoods guys who act like characters from out of "Deliverance." Again, no problem! One of the sage sayings of Gramps: "When you run into a problem, look up!" In so doing, the grandson recognizes that there is always something bigger. After all, "problems are like clouds in the sky; here in the moment, then gone in the next."
The treatment of the boy's parents was also thoughtful. While they were in the middle of a divorce, it was clear that both the mother and father truly loved their son. Another one of the sayings of the grandfather was, "real fear is not living the right way." By the end of the film, the parents seem to have learned something from that one.
The film was more than a story of survival. Again, the grandfather sums up best the overarching theme: "You always have something."
The boy travels alone withonly his backpack and his faithful dog Riley. But the grandfather is with him in spirit. And, in the case of this film, the grandfather, as played with great gusto by Jon Voigt, is with the boy in presence as well.
Some of the best moments of the film are the wise sayings of the wise guy grandfather. While some of his jokes fall flat, his advice is rich in wisdom. He counsels the boy to remember the "Rule of Threes"--3 minutes without air; 3 hours without regulated body temp; 3 days without water; 3 weeks without food. The boy loses his backpack in the fierce river rapids and is briefly unconscious. No problem. There is always the "Rule of Three" as a guide to survival.
The journey of the boy is filled with almost every conceivable occurrence, including the lost backpack, a near attack from a bear, and the appearance of two scary backwoods guys who act like characters from out of "Deliverance." Again, no problem! One of the sage sayings of Gramps: "When you run into a problem, look up!" In so doing, the grandson recognizes that there is always something bigger. After all, "problems are like clouds in the sky; here in the moment, then gone in the next."
The treatment of the boy's parents was also thoughtful. While they were in the middle of a divorce, it was clear that both the mother and father truly loved their son. Another one of the sayings of the grandfather was, "real fear is not living the right way." By the end of the film, the parents seem to have learned something from that one.
The film was more than a story of survival. Again, the grandfather sums up best the overarching theme: "You always have something."