Movie Review: Togo

Movie Review: Togo                                                                                                                     11-30-20

It was winter 1925. Alaska was embracing a harsh snowstorm, and several children in the town of Nome are suffering from a disease called diphtheria. If the medicine isn’t delivered to Nome soon, the infected children will die. It’s up to Norwegian sled dog breeder Leonhard Seppala to use his sled dogs to retrieve the medicine and make it back to Nome during the snowstorm.

I know lots of people already said it, but I’ll say it anyway: How come Disney didn’t release this movie in theaters instead of Call of the Wild?! Togo is the best live-action non-remake Disney has made since Enchanted with life-like backgrounds and sets, perfect performances from both the human and animal actors, a nice score from Mark Isham, and a plot that stays true to the real events without adding fanciful elements or making it too light-hearted.

As you may have already pointed out by now, Togo shares some similarities to the underrated 1995 animated film Balto, as both were about sled dogs racing to save the lives of the kids of Nome from a deadly disease. What makes Togo different from Balto, however, is that this movie switches back and forth between Seppala raising Togo as a puppy to him and the dogs mushing through the snowstorm. Not to mention that Togo looks adorable as a puppy!

If I were to complain about one thing, I felt that Togo was a little too long, and the switching back and forth can get confusing. Nevertheless, Togo is an inspiring film I recommend watching every winter, though it will be too intense for younger kids.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5.