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Togo Movie Review

Togo is a 2019 family historical adventure film directed by Ericson Core and starring Willem Dafoe. It’s a strong, though safe Disney+ offering.

It follows the 1925 serum run to Nome, a famous historical event where a dog-sled team transported diphtheria antitoxin serum through very harsh Alaskan conditions in order to save the town’s numerous sick kids. First off, my childhood nostalgia film ‘Balto’ deals with this same story, but it focused on Balto instead of Togo, and there lies this film’s biggest virtue.

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The film sets the story and history right by portraying what really happened. Balto just finished the journey which Togo started, and his team took all the credit, but thankfully nowadays the real truth is known, and the film preaches it so well. I loved that theme of history not always being written truthfully, and it made me wonder how many times those more private or uninterested in fame and recognition individuals remained anonymous and others took their credit for all their work. It’s a great theme that was only explored a bit in the third act.

The rest of the film is your regular children’s flick stuff with the dog being mischievous, getting into all sorts of troubles, and then growing to become this great example of the ultimate dog heroism. Togo and Seppala are both great, but their relationship is only solid, and not as emotional or as well explored as I would have liked.

But Willem Dafoe once again killed it, delivering another very strong performance. I also liked Julianne Nicholson in a more proactive role than usual for the wife character. And I found the decision to mostly film with real dogs to have paid off significantly as they are all immensely cute as Huskies usually are, and especially Togo is adorable with his striking blue eyes.

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Togo is a beautifully filmed movie, benefiting tremendously from stunning Alaskan landscapes. I actually found some of the VFX work a bit too obvious and not as polished for me personally, but most of it was fine, and the choice to only do CGI on the dogs for those dangerous scenes should be followed by other dog pictures as well. The movie is quite entertaining and sweet throughout, but again everything besides the third act felt very standard to me, though very well executed through and through.

Togo is a very well-acted, beautifully filmed Disney+ flick that is suitably very endearing, and using mostly real dogs instead of CGI, which was a terrific choice that paid off tremendously. This is your archetypal family dog picture, especially in the familiar first act, but the third act is excellent as it showcases how sometimes history books are not right as it admirably strips away Balto’s fabricated achievements in favor of Togo’s genuine accomplishments.