African Cats (2011)

Admirable film.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

In 2009 Disney Nature brought us "Earth" which is absolutely amazing but we had seen it before with the television series "Planet Earth", and if it feels familiar, its because they are from the same British producer, and director. Then a year later we get "Oceans", which is personally better than "Earth", and follows life under the sea, and crams in the underlying tone of needing to respect nature, because of the human qualities they share with us. Now in 2011, we get African Cats which is so far the best of the Disney Nature films. Keith Scholey, and Alastair Fothergilland have made a documentary that children, and adults will love. The film follows three stories in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. A younger cub named Mara, and her aging lioness mother Layla. Fang, the leader of the pride, who must protect his family from Kali, and his adult sons who want dominance over the land, and Sita, a cheetah mother who has the difficulty of raising five newborns all by herself in the tough African Savannah.The storytelling has been done to almost perfection, The first fifty minutes was undoubtedly the most compelling footage of the film, and is where the documentary flourished. Another great thing was that it let us clearly see the view of each animal it followed. Layla wants nothing more than to protect her cub Mara, Fang wants to remain king of the land, but seems a little to cowardly to do so, Kali wants to dethrone Fang and take over of his land, and Sita's mission is to train/protect her babies to become the best predators they can be. Where the film failed, was the choice of repeating a lot of the same tribal songs, during that last half- hour which made it drag a little. But overall this is a fulfilling, intriguing, and heart-felt documentary. I give it an 8 out of 10. Side note: While sitting in the theater a trailer came on that stars a young red head girl and Heather Graham, called "Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer". The trailer did not describe what the film was about, but it is most definitely was a children's movie, and it looked like you would be catastrophically dumber after watching it. So if your gonna take your kid to see a movie anytime soon, make it African Cats, and not Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2, or Hop.

Nowhere have I ever seen a more dramatic and well balanced nature film. The depth and closeness into these animals lives and the moving narrative are unmatched IMO. I have read some of the negative reviews and frankly am stunned how anyone could come away from this beautiful film with anything less than a wonderful experience. the camera shots, the true 'story' ( as created by the animals), the music, the narration, all superb. this is as close to 'the lion king', all true to life, as you will ever see. these moments and bonds between the animals, the instincts, the scenes, it's truly amazing.one reviewer listed in IMDb's 'critics' closed with 'i would rather see the avengers', to which i say - there are just different types of people in this world, can't make a fish like land.i love nature shows, and the footage in some of the 'blockbuster' nature films (blue planet, earth, etc) is spectacular, and i love them too, but nowhere have I ever seen animals 'story' done so rich and true as this. to all who made this film - bravo, bravo!

It seems that Disney Nature has taken a break from the documentaries focusing on the whole world of animals and decided to take a closer more in depth look at more specific creatures. One of Disney's most popular films of all time is The Lion King, my personal favorite, and I'm sure that a lot of kids want to see what the real pride lands look like. Before The Lion King was re-released in the theaters in 3-D, Disney gave us a look at the real lions, cheetahs and hyenas and their home land. Of course lions may not sing about the excitement of being king and may not have a huge ceremony where a monkey raises a cub above all the other animals while crowning him as king, but it's still a wonderful animal to learn about and their family are a fascinating pack to look at as we see them survive in life.Focusing on a young lion cub named Mara being raised by her mother, Layla, a mother cheetah named Sita who is raising five newborns, and Fang, the leader of Mara & her mother's pride defending his family from a banished lion. With so many species competing for space and food in the Savannah, the animals must figure out the best way to survive. Although cheetahs are solitary by nature, Sita now has her cubs to take care of, and teach before they each go their own way. Then we see Mara, a six month-old lion cub with her mother Layla, who both belong to the River pride. In the North of the Masai Mara, where Sita is caring for her cubs, another pride of lions is led by Kali, who wants to expand his pride by taking over Fang's southern pride. However, they cannot reach the southern pride as they are divided by a crocodile infested river, but are determined.Taking place in Africa, the lands are bright with the sun almost always in view. To see the prides learning how to become independent adults and how to hunt and be safe was wonderful. We know that there are harsh realities when it comes to the Prides, how the parents sometimes eat their young or the cubs must be banished in order to gain their strength and then come back becoming a parent. It's a sad lesson, but I think this film is a fine way to show the kids how the circle of life works, no pun intended.The movie also focuses on a family of cheetahs. To see the cheetahs running in slow motion is just amazing, they are the fastest animals on the planet and in slow motion you really see how this is possible. They are such amazing animals and so beautiful. This was a great way to get up close and personal with the beautiful cats. It's also wonderful to see how the parents protect their baby cubs and finding how they have tricks up their sleeves to make sure their families are protected. We also find out how a lion becomes king and what they go through to earn the crown. Though I'm curious how Fang is doing and if he was ever able to come back to the pride, though I doubt it. Sounds silly, but moments where you wish you could understand the animals because the hanging tooth on Fang, the stories he must have had if he could speak English. But African Cats is a wonderful documentary and a great way to see these terrific animals up close and to find out about their lives. Perfect for the family, African Cats is not to be missed.9/10

Now, before I start a short review, let's get a couple things straight...1. The Serengeti is in Tanzania, not Kenya. The part the borders the Serengeti is the Masai Mara, separated by the Mara River.2. Kenya is NOT in Central Africa but in East Africa. Good grief, where do some people get their Geographical knowledge from? As far as Jacksons narration is concerned... Just because he is black doesn't mean he's qualified to talk about Africa. Chances are he's never actually been there.The American habit of turning everything into a homely Disney story is sickening. If you call it a documentary, document, don't even think about turning a wild creature into a cuddly toy story character. They are not.I can only hope this doesn't actually make it into Kenya or anywhere else on the African continent, people might become nauseous.Animal do NOT have human emotions. Stupid script writer do, lions and cheetahs do not write scripts.The wildlife shots are good, after all, even I must be able to say something nice about this but then it was made by Alastaire Fothergill, which sort of speaks for itself.Sorry, but more then 2/10 wasn't possible.If you want to watch something good, just look for any of a huge variety of BBC documentaries. You won't be disappointed there.