Disneynature presents African Cats, a nature documentary set in the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. The film, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, opened on April 22, 2011.
The beautiful footage captures the struggles and triumphs of two cat families: a pride of lions, and a mother cheetah and her cubs.
The Lions
The river pride consists of six lionesses, one lion (named Fang for his broken tooth) and their many cubs. They live under the constant threat of the lions across the river—Kali and his four sons. Layla, the oldest lioness, is growing old and weak. When the pride must follow the other migrating animals in order to find food, Layla isn’t strong enough to go on. She begs for the pride to wait for her, but only her cub, Mara, stays, putting herself in danger of starvation and predators.
For her daughter’s sake, Layla pushes onward until they catch up to their pride. But her weakness is overpowering. When she sees that Mara has been accepted into Layla’s sister’s family, she can rest easy and lay down her head forever. But threats still loom, and Kali and his sons drive Fang away, claiming the pride as their own.
The Cheetahs
Sita has five cheetah cubs. Being a single mother makes it difficult to protect her babies. She often has to leave them alone to hunt. One night, hyenas invade and steal two of her cubs. Distraught, Sita calls to her babies, hoping that they are just lost. But as time goes on, she must face the devastating truth. Her three remaining cubs grow and she teaches them how to survive in the savanna. Layla is a good role model. She’s strong, fast, motherly and fierce when her cubs are in danger.
The Bottom Line
African Cats[/kwlink] is both a beautiful and heartbreaking documentary, with footage that captures the strong bonds between mothers and their cubs. However, there is a lot of hunting and killing, so those who can’t handle watching animals get hurt shouldn’t see this movie.
African Cats Rating:
