We’re only a month into the Disney+ experience, and it’s already becoming clear how the streaming service will treat is original feature films. Where the Disney company’s theatrical release roster is packed with reboots, remakes, and entries in its mega-brands like Marvel and Pixar, Disney+ can serve as a home to the things that might once have been theatrical releases but aren’t quite financially sexy enough to warrant the marketing push.
Togo is a perfect example of such an approach: a satisfying, low-key adventure that would have looked spectacular on the big screen if Disney had the confidence to play it there. Based on a true story, it follows Alaskan sled-team driver Leonhard Seppala (played by Willem Dafoe) as he embarks on a crucial mission circa winter 1925. Nome, Alaska, has become the location of a diphtheria epidemic, and several children face death unless a life-saving serum can be transported from Fairbanks, hundreds of hard-to-traverse miles away. With a dog team led by his veteran champion, Togo, Leonhard attempts the dangerous journey into the teeth of an epic storm.
If the story sounds vaguely familiar, that’s because it was already turned into the animated feature Balto in 1995. This version attempts to correct a bit of the historical record that has previously focused on Balto, who was part of the dog team that eventually finished the relay bringing the serum to Nome. This version, directed by Ericson Core (Disney’s 2006 Invincible), centers on Togo enough that he becomes a real character, including substantial flashbacks to his early life as a rambunctious, headstrong puppy that Leonhard is convinced has no future on a sled team. Those scenes provide an effective framework for the relationship between Leonhard and his wife (Julianne Nicholson), and the growing respect between Leonhard and Togo. And, you know, it doesn’t hurt that fuzzy-wuzzy husky puppies are just so dang adorable you can hardly stand it.
The anchor of Togo, though, is the risky trip by Leonhard and his team—sometimes across cracking sea ice, sometimes hurtling down a hill towards the edge of a cliff. Those sequences are appropriately adrenaline-charged, conveying the stakes of the mission and allowing Dafoe’s intensity to flourish, like when he turns the “St. Crispin’s Day” monologue from Shakespeare’s Henry V into an impromptu ode to his dogs. Core—who serves as his own cinematographer—offers up plenty of amazing landscape images whenever we’re not in the middle of whiteout conditions, giving Togo a real sense of scope even if you’re only watching on a tablet.
It’s noteworthy that the mission is over and resolved 85 minutes into the 105-minute movie, leaving Togo with a bit of a coda problem. While the story intends to provide a satisfying, maybe even tear-jerking, resolution to Leonhard’s connection with Togo beyond this one specific incident, the film probably drags that resolution several minutes past the point where we’ve gotten the point. There’s still a lot here that works, both viscerally and emotionally. This should be evidence that when it comes to Disney+ features, they’re not just serving up the bland leftovers.
The poignant and emotional adventure debuts on Disney+ on Dec. 20, 2019.
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