Alpha and Omega

Co-directed by Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck, the animated Alpha and Omega is set in Canada’s Jasper National Park, where the wolf pack is socially separated into two groups. Alphas are leaders, disciplined hunters that traditionally only breed within their caste. Omegas are followers and second-class slackers. Teenage Omega Humphrey (voiced by Justin Long) yearns for Alpha Kate (Hayden Panettiere), but she’s been promised by lupine leader Winston (Danny Glover) to Garth (Chris Carmack), the scion of rival chief Tony (Dennis Hopper). But then Humphrey and Kate are tranquilized by forest rangers and shipped off to Idaho’s Sawtooth National Forest as part of a wolf-relocation project. While their captors expect them to reproduce, Kate is instead determined to find her way home. Embarking on a long, perilous journey, the pair are helped by a French-Canadian golfing goose (Larry Miller) and his duck caddy (Eric Price). Eventually, Kate and Humphrey discover that some customs are made to be broken—at least those thwarting the course of true love—while at home Kate’s sister Lilly (Christina Ricci) has entranced fitness-obsessed Garth. Family audiences expecting Pixar/DreamWorks/Disney caliber animation will find that Alpha and Omega falls far short of those standards, but what’s even more disappointing is the lackluster rom-com script and frenetic direction. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (21 min.), a “Wolves in the Wild” featurette (13 min.), a brief deleted scene, an animal fun facts track, the “Log Sliding” interactive game, a personality test, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD and digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a disappointing film.] (S. Granger)