Review of Alpha and Omega (2010) by Shiira — 22 Sep 2010

Winston(Danny Glover) is a wolf without sons, so the father, by default, sends his oldest daughter Kate(Hayden Panetiere) to alpha school because she's the heir apparent; the alpha female in-waiting. How does that make him feel, the pack leader, the envy of other wolves, having to rely on a girl for daily sustenance, fresh caribou meat, and in the future, leadership, when the time comes for Winston to hand over the reins of power? Surely, he'd much rather have his successor be an alpha male, just like his old "man".

After Kate returns home without a kill, neither father nor daughter acknowledges the elephant in the room(well, in this case, forest), a notion about lacking, which must weight heavily on both wolves' minds, yet goes unexpressed.

Even though Kate comes from good stock, all the alpha training in the world can't offset the physical disadvantages of her gender, relative to the male, who is stronger, faster, and more fierce, more wolf-like.

But at the risk of seeming too "Mulan", the film addresses the father's latent paternal malcontentment over having girls in a roundabout fashion, by having the wolf blame the unsuccessful hunt on eastern wolves, then employing him in the highly unusual position of matchmaker, in which Winston brokers a connubial union with another alpha male, an enemy father who has a marriageable son, Garth(Chris Carmack), as a means to unite both packs.

That's pretty convoluted. Since when do wolves consolidate? Wolves are territorial. If Winston had sons, and outsiders infringed on their hunting grounds, he'd make war, not peace, and have his warriors rip the trespassers' throats out.

With her long eyelashes and well-brushed mane, Kate looks too high-maintenance for killing; she'd probably much prefer being a girl, just like her sister Lilly(Christine Ricci). Out of desperation, Kate is allowed to marry Humphrey(Justin Long), an omega, a wolf beneath her station, because his daughter is no hunter, no leader of wolves.