Review: In new 'Call of the Wild adaptation, a computer-generated dog becomes a star, of sorts.

An old-fashioned story told with newfangled technology, “The Call of the Wild” is a rousing telling of the classic Jack London short story that youngsters and their parents can enjoy together.

Buck is a big dog, a St. Bernard/Scotch Collie mix, who we first meet in 1897, or thereabouts, as the pampered pooch of Judge Miller (Bradley Whitford), a prosperous California jurist. Buck is stolen off of Judge Miller’s porch and sent by rail to Seattle and then by boat to Alaska, to be sold as a sled dog during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Buck is bought by Perrault (played by French star Omar Sy), who with his partner Françoise (Cara Gee) runs the mail route to Dawson, the Yukon boomtown that’s the heart of the gold rush. Buck runs in the back of the team, which is led by a fierce Husky, Spitz. When Buck adapts quickly to the sled life, making friends of the other dogs, Spitz sees a threat to his leadership.

Later on, Buck and the team are sold to Hal (Dan Stevens), a city slicker with dreams of striking gold. Hal — accompanied by his spoiled sister Mercedes (Karen Gillan) and Mercedes’ husband Charles (Colin Woodell) — is unspeakably cruel to Buck, who knows the trail better than his human master.

Luckly for Buck, along comes an experienced outdoorsman, John Thornton (Harrison Ford), who cuts Buck free and leaves Hal’s company to fend for themselves. Buck finds Thornton to be a good master, kind and caring, though with an inner sadness. But while Buck thrives with Thornton, he also feels the primal pull of the wolves living wild around them.

The screenplay, by Michael Green (who adapted “Murder on the Orient Express” in 2017), cleans up some of the dated and politically problematic aspects of London’s text. (For example, the “evil” Native Americans, the Yeehats, are nowhere to be seen.) The story takes its time to get to its heart, the bond between Buck and Thornton, even with Ford providing narration to things his character is not around to witness.

Director Chris Sanders is an animation guy — he co-directed “Lili & Stitch,” “How to Train Your Dragon” and “The Croods” — and that experience is put to good use in the depiction of Buck. Our lead dog is not a dog, but a computer-animated character, with movements provided by one of the best performance-capture actors in the business, Terry Notary. (He performed Rocket in the “Planet of the Apes” trilogy, and Kong in “Kong: Skull Island.”) The result blurs the line between canine and human, but makes for an expressive main character in a well-realized adventure.

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‘The Call of the Wild’

★★★

Opens Friday, February 21, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for some violence, peril, thematic elements and mild language. Running time: 100 minutes.