Beautés sauvages

I thought this flick was great fun. I thought the acting was pretty decent and not as bad as other people say. Sure, the three leads are all teen idols, but I am not going to knock their performances because of that. Still, I continue to enjoy this flick, and always will

Loved the show. The acting was good, considering the ages of the actors involved. Has just the right amount of excitement, family drama, danger and humour. The nature and wildlife shots are just fantastic, and you wonder if the actors are actually in the same shots as the animals, or if it's just a brilliant camera trick. Take the part in the bears' cave - I know I wouldn't stand up to having so many bears roaring all around me with no visible route of escape. Panoramic shots of the natural world makes you just wanna get into your 4WD and take a 3 month hiatus to tour the countryside. Touching moments at the end when the normally practical-minded father applauded his son's efforts at nature-based film-making and gave them his support instead of the initial discouragement. Great movie round and round. If I had the money and the time, I'd go on trip like that too. That's how good it is.

When I heard that Jonathan Taylor Thomas was doing a movie with Devon Sawa at the height of my teenybopper stage, needless to say I was excited. The weird thing is that I still love this movie now. The plot follows the three Stouffer brothers, Marty, Mark, and Marshall, following their dreams to get out of their small town and dead-end future as mechanics and go out and film animals. Not just any animals, though, the "biggest bad-a**es of the animal kingdom," which results in a few thrilling, sometimes comic adventures for the three brothers. The brothers want the piece de resistance of their film to be an infamous cave where a group of bears are reputed to sleep together, the rumor that actually starts their trip and leads to the biggest adventure of all. This movie is full of hope that dreams can come true, as cheesy as that sounds, and is even better as it is a true story based on the naturalists behind Wild America. Great shots of animals, as well (not counting fake bear suits).

I believe in grading movies on a curve. This one is not in the same class as Citizen Kane or Fargo or Some Like It Hot. Instead this is a low-budget and somewhat corny—okay, pretty corny—family film like, oh, Because of Winn-Dixie. And graded on the curve appropriate for that class, this is at least an 8 out of 10. I'll be honest, my wife is the one who ordered this from Netflix and I didn't want to see it. I had Gosford Park in the DVD tray ready to go. But my wife thought our 15-year old would enjoy Wild America more, and our daughter agreed. I was outnumbered. So we watched this film.

I didn't know anything about it. We were a good 10 minutes or more into the film before I put the family's last name (Stouffer) together with the first name of the oldest son (Marty) and realized, "Hey, I know who this kid is: It's Marty Stouffer of..." D'oh.

Anyway, I expect that the real adventures of the real Marty and his brothers weren't quite as colorful as those of the characters in the film. But there were a good combination of excitement (and from some unlikely sources, like F-14 jets dropping bombs) and genuine humor. I laughed hard again and again.

Special effects? Well, I'll just say, it ain't Jurassic Park. I think the animal props were rented from a budget prop store in Atlanta. But it didn't matter. I enjoyed the film a lot. Do what I did, get some fresh hot pizza, sit back with your spouse and a kid or two, and enjoy it yourself.

I certainly don't have the credentials to analyze screenplays or actors performances. I'm just a ordinary guy who enjoyed this movie immensely. I will say this about anyone who doesn't enjoy this movie... I don't think I'd like having a beer them. Watch the movie, it's pretty darn good in my book. :)