WE all know that dogs are considered man’s best friend. But why exactly is that? This flawed but visually beautiful and ambitious survival adventure seeks to showcase the answer to that very question.

Events take place 20,000 years ago in Europe and focus on a tribe of people doing their best to survive the harsh wilderness. After a hunting expedition goes awry, young Keda (Kodi Smit-McPhee) finds himself injured and isolated from the rest of his tribe, including his tough tribe leader father Tau (Johannes Haukur Johannesson) and caring mother Rho (Natassia Malthe).

He happens across a lone wolf who has been abandoned by its own pack. At first the wolf – which the boy names Alpha – is aggressive towards the human, but Keda finds a way to tame him enough to help him survive and makes his way back home.

It many ways this is a classic story, from its intention as an origin tale of how man came to form a kinship with canines to its straight-forward survival storytelling. It sometimes feels like a Disney adventure, albeit with a slightly harder edge to it.

It works because of the sense of visual splendour and scope that co-writer/director Albert Hughes brings to it. He keeps the dialogue, subtitled in a specially invented prehistoric language, to a bare minimum and instead tells the story mostly through action and unspoken understanding between this boy and his newfound wolf friend.

Thanks to the gorgeous cinematography by Martin Schlacht making the most out of the daunting natural landscapes, scenes that would have otherwise been shot more conventionally – not least a daring underwater rescue – are given an eye- opening majesty that begs to be experienced on the biggest screen possible.

It stops just short of being the intended overwhelming experience, mainly due to hit-or-miss emotional beats that sometimes lose the battle between touching and just corny. But there’s something winning about a film that has an old-fashioned heart, purpose of conviction and a bravura visual style.