Alpha and Omega Review (wolves)

My brother is really into this film and made me sit down with him a while ago and watch it (and several times since). While Rotten Tomatoes may have given it a low score for being unoriginal in story and lackluster in visual effects, I have to say that I enjoyed it despite all that. In fact, part of the reason I think I like it is that it was so simple. The other part of the reason is the voice acting. This movie is for kids, especially kids who like animals (namely wolves), but it can be fun for the whole family.
Justin Long, who still sounds like Alvin from the recent Chipmunks movies except at a normal pitch, plays Humphrey, an Omega-class wolf. Hayden Panettiere, who still sounds like Kairi at times, plays Kate, an Alpha-class wolf and future leader of the western wolf pack. There doesn't seem to be much prejudice between Alpha and Omega wolves, seeing as how Kate's younger sister is an Omega. Both groups need each other to survive - Alphas are the leaders and hunters while Omegas lighten the mood and break up fights (which begs the question why can the Alphas not defend themselves if they can hunt and be aggressive). Despite this, Alphas and Omegas are just not allowed to mate together, which is too bad because Humphrey really likes Kate. The real problem is with the eastern pack wolves, who keep invading the western pack's hunting ground. Their leader, played by the late Dennis Hopper to whom this film is dedicated in memory, tells Winston, Kate's father played by Danny Glover, that Kate has to marry his son Garth in order to unite the packs so they can both hunt the same land without getting into fights. Kate's actually all right with this, putting duty above her personal preferences. That is, until she actually meets Garth and finds that he can't howl worth a damn as his voice causes birds to drop out of the sky stunned at how bad he sounds (clearly the writers didn't want dead birds, which could've solved whatever food shortage crisis the eastern pack is going through).
Long story short, Humphrey and Kate are tranq'd by hunters and relocated to Idaho to repopulate (which tells kids nothing about how wolves are actually hunted to near-extinction in the U.S. currently, and that instead of repopulating our main characters would have probably been as good as dead). They seek the help of two golf-playing birds, one of whom is voiced by Larry Miller with an inconsistent French accent reminiscent of his role in The Princess Diaries. Turns out it's actually fairly easy to get back to their home in Jasper Park, Canada - if they can outrun more men with guns and angry bears and survive a rain storm. Anyway, what's happening back home is more interesting, with Kate's younger sister Lily keeping Garth company (and teaching him how to howl) while everyone else is looking for Kate because if she doesn't come back and marry Garth all hell will break loose because Dennis Hopper (I mean, Tony) means to take over the entire valley. The rest of the movie is pretty much predictable, complete with a [caribou] stampede similar to the one in The Lion King. I will not spoil the ending, but it's a kids' movie so of course everyone lives happily ever after. This movie is not for everybody as there are of course harsher critics out there than me. If you like wolves or any of these actors and don't mind predictable movies that use unoriginal storytelling elements and are aimed at kids, you should definitely give this one a look. Don't know how the sequel is going to turn out, though, as it seems it's going straight to DVD.