Animation Source Forums

I have to admitt this movie was a little slow.... I didn't really like it. But I hear that some people hate Alue. I actually like her even though the movie wasn't as good as others.

Maybe she means the plot took awhile to progress? Although I don't think so as Aleu ran off fairly early on, which lead to Balto's journey etc

I think I understand what she (is that right?) means: It did take a while, despite the 74 min. length of the film, to get to the meat of the film. Although if I remember correctly, it took about 10-15 minutes from the film title to get to the end of the adoption scene and show Aleu at a year old. The main plot of the story was to get to the "Wolf Quest" part of WQ . . . it just seemed to drag a bit once Balto first tried searching for her, but it began to pick up after Father and Daughter were reunited.

So, yeah - I can understand how you feel about it, but I agree with Togo here: It is faster than some other movies with longer film times. Perhaps it's because of fewer songs?

- Juuchan17

Oh dear. Totally agreed. I HATE modern movies overloaded with cheesy songs. Even Wolf Quest got on my nerves a little.

Agreed. If you want to make a cartoon musical, at least do it right! (Not many can do that, mind you . . . they usually fail horribly.)

At least with WQ, the three (four if you count Muru's little chanty thing) songs weren't terrible, but they were necessary to keep the audience into the film by musically painting a mood for the certain moments.


Same here. One or two songs is nice, but over-run the film with song and you might as well just make it a Broadway musical, right?

There is such a thing as too much song. WQ did not have too much, and neither did the original film (more action, less sing-song . . . the only song was during the duration of the credits). However, WoC . . . too much song IMO. WQ did a better job in the song dept. than WoC any day.

Actually, I thought the film "Cats Don't Dance" (in which the characters - groups of talking anthromorphic animals - sing and dance rather often) wasn't too bad . . . but I digress.

- Juuchan17

Well of course, it managed to pull off the whole musical theme perfectly. The whole plot IS a musical in the first place in a way, so it doesn't seem out of place like WoC did so many times in a row -_____-

True . . . WoC was a bit awkward in that category. (No offense but it really wasn't necessary)

Still, WQ was only slow at reaching the main point of the film (in which Aleu realizes that she was meant to fully embrace the wolf heritage she had been given by joining them and Balto has to allow her that chance to grow up and live her own life), but it did fill up the time rather well with a nice mix of culture, mystery and message.

So someone has to give it some kudos for that, right?

- Juuchan17

Personally, I felt the film was poorly paced. The beginning and the end were only the really interesting parts of the film. The rest wasn't really an 'epic wolf quest,' but more of a 'dog that looks like a wolf wanders around a bit whilst whinging about her heritage.'

If I were to re-do the film, I would do it like this:

Balto's children are born
The puppies are adopted, except Aleu.
Flash to a year later- Aleu tries to join a sled team, but is rejected.
Balto tells Aleu the truth about her wolf heritage. Shocked, she quietly slips away.

Now all of that was in the 15-20 minutes.

Then I would simply make Aleu find the wolf pack (and perhaps not have them by the ocean, but in a forest). This would take up the rest of the film. Maybe Aleu could fall in love with a wolf from the pack. Oh yes, and Balto could get involved somehow. Perhaps a struggle for power in the pack - who knows?

Also, I would cut out the songs, the whole 'find yourself' theme, the subplot with the dreams and raven and the spirit stuff. I'd also add more action.

WQ is alright on its own terms, but from an entertainment point of view, it simply isn't that engaging.

/agree, thats pretty much how I've always wanted it. Would make for such a better movie. I probably would have liked it even now if they only didn't do the characters singing and the whole "Spirit" thing with Nava going inside tree's and whatnot.