Wolves

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Movie Details

• Genre: Documentary, Drama, Family
• Release Date: 1998-01-01 n/a
• Running Time: 40 min.
• Director: David Douglas
• Cast: Robbie Robertson, Pat Tucker, Bruce Weide
• Distributor: Primesco Communications

By way of human-sized reels unspooling their cargo through a colossal sewing machine of a projector, IMAX films generally escalate the natural universe's miniscule drama into epic proportions. Following suit, this documentary begins with the dwindling wolf population in Yellowstone National Park and the Rocky Mountains, and expands into a discussion of human regard for the earth at large. Many of the observations made here are astute and well-argued: For instance, the film points out that because wolves are predators, activists usually ignore them in order to rally for more benign endangered species. Wolves also contends that the Nez Perce Native Americans have begun to consolidate their tribal heritage by working together to foster a larger wolf population. Still, this is an IMAX movie, and informed annotations are not enough: We want to feel our internal organs twisted into balloon animals through a cliffhanging camera plunge into the belly of the beast! Unfortunately, no such visual frills are at work in Wolves. In fact, a postage stamp-sized screen-within-a-screen all too often does the dirty work for the eye-bending Omnidome. Consequently, the result is more like one of those monosyllabic grade-school nature films and less like a natural wonder. (Melissa Maerz)