good back-story, and good acting

A Masterpiece!

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Scripted nature film from Walt Disney seamlessly mixes wildlife footage with the engrossing, entertaining story of Nikki, a Malamute dog (1/8 wolf) separated from his owner in the Canadian Rockies after rescuing an orphaned bear cub up a tree. The unlikely bond between dog and bear survives different methods of sleeping and hunting for an amusing effect (the film is very careful not to dwell on the carcasses). But when winter comes and the bear must hibernate, Nikki forges off alone and is nabbed by a trapper who wants to use him for dog fighting. The animals are marvelous, though the cinematographers (all five of them, including William W. Bacon III, Lloyd Beebe, Ray Jewell, Donald Wilder and Jack Couffer, who also co-directed) are the stars this time. Jacques Fauteux provides a warm and funny narration, and Oliver Wallace's background score is very lively. The different types of film used is noticeable on occasion, and the speed is played with (slowed down or sped up) a few times; otherwise, a first-rate family product from the studio, one with the requisite tug at the heart at the finish line. *** from ****

This movie is based on "Nomads of the North" by James Oliver Curwood, who also wrote "King Grizzly", which was made into the movie "The Bear".Nikki, a malamute that's 1/8 wolf, and his kind fur trapper owner encounter an orphaned bear cub. The cub and puppy initially don't get along. An overturned canoe separates them, while tethered together, from their master, and they set out on their own in a "Defiant Ones" sequence that shows their different approaches to survival in the wild. The puppy wants to hunt critters, but can't catch any due to the cub stubbornly anchoring the other end of the tether. The cub tears into a rotten tree stump to get at a beehive, but the puppy runs away after getting stung, dragging the cub along with him. The cub climbs a tree to sleep, resulting in the puppy trying to snooze with his rear end slung a foot off the ground. After a number of weeks they escape their tether and become friends, until the bear hibernates, and Nikki heads out on his own. Over a year or so, he grows up, gets into scuffles with a wolverine, and tries to join a wolf pack who let him know violently that he's not welcome. Eventually Nikki gets captured by an evil fur trader who beats him into an aggressive pit fighting dog. At the movie's end, his original owner confronts a snarling bloodthirsty Nikki, but both eventually recognize each other, and resume their friendly travels.NOTE - there are many fights in this movie: bear vs bear, Nikki vs wolverine, wolverine vs lynx, Nikki vs wild wolves, Nikki vs wolf-dog, and even good fur trader vs bad fur trader, and a number of "dead" animals are shown. An Indian is treated in typically poor 60's cinematic fashion as well, although he is shown as noble and smart, becoming a companion to Nikki and the good fur trader at the end.All -in -all though, this is a Disney dog movie that deserves to be a little better remembered. The DVD I saw was put out by a company named Anchor Bay, and not Disney, so there were no extra features at all. This, combined with Disney's "Alaska Sled Dog" from 1957 would make a good Disney DVD package.

I watched "Nikki" (1961) and "Benji the Hunted" (1987) back-to-back today, and since there are not enough things to say about those two films in two separate reviews, it's better to compare them in one. They have very similar storylines (a dog tries to survive in the wilderness) and they are both primarily aimed at kids, but the quality levels differ: "Nikki" (**1/2) is a simple, straightforward, adventurous, well-made Disney tale, while "Benji the Hunted" (*1/2) is a sleep-inducing one. Voice-over narration is often regarded as an annoying gimmick, but the narrator in "Nikki" has a very pleasant voice and agreeable material to work with, while "Benji" omits the narration entirely and replaces it with an obtrusive, often inappropriate music score. In short, "Nikki" is much better.

One thing can be said about Disney in the 50s and 60s, and that is it put out some great films with animal stars, from the True-Life Adventure series to "Old Yeller" and others. This film combines a True-Life filmmaking approach with a good adventure story, and the result is entertaining family fare. The Malamute and the bear cub are adorable! Both adventure and nature commentary are shown, combined with gorgeous on-location photography (filmed in Canada) and a nice music score.