Der einsame Puma

Just a lot of fun to watch, "Charlie the Lonesome Cougar" proves that story is everything. You don't need great actors or great sets or special effects if the story is good. The wildlife footage is amazing. Watching real animals behave naturally is far more entertaining than nine out of ten CGI movies with their anthropomorphic animals speaking with movie star voices. If you're looking for family entertainment that will expose your kids to real animals in an entertaining story, you simply can't go wrong renting this film. It's one of Disney's all-time best. (Basically, anything narrated by Rex Allen is good.)

This is one of those movies you just watch for the pictures. There isn't much of a story and there isn't much acting, aside from the animals, but the scenery is great and it's amazing they can train animals like that.

It's worth watching just to see actual footage of one of the last log drives on the Clearwater river. Not long after the movie was made, the Clearwater was dammed up, and that whole beautiful valley was killed by the muck and slack-water behind Dworshak dam. If they tried to make a movie like this these days, they'd have to do it with CGI, because you just can't pile up 600,000 feet of old-growth logs and dump them in a river any more, even if you could find one that wasn't dammed up. The animal rights people would probably have something to say about having a cougar jump into a pen full of sheep and run over top of a bunch of piglets, too.

There are some hokey parts of the production such as the "moonlight" cougar romp under a bright sunny sky, and the dynamiting of a small pile of driftwood that is supposed to be a "log jam" (after lighting the "wick", no less), but in the genre of "animal pictures" this is one of the best.

A brief culture shock. Choosing an old Disney real animal and adventure film, I suddenly felt transported to the Russ Meyer universe. Logically, no boobs, no small town drama, no murder and manslaughter, but the style of storytelling and the aesthetics from the master of artful sleaze. The voiceover, the camera, the use of music, the editing technique, the pace. It is through the use of this technique that a plot framework is created from supposedly dull animal films. It is minimal, but sufficient to fill an entertaining feature film. Wonderful landscapes, a likeable hero and countless interesting shots. Indeed, you constantly wonder how the creative team realised the unusual scenes. This is certainly the other side of the coin, as not everything must have been in the best interests of the animals. Whatever the case, the viewer's fear of a threatening animal is certainly not taken away, but this living creature is brought closer in a holistic way and a possible enemy image is softened. All this in an entertaining and family-friendly 75 minutes.

This film has not been seen by me in quite a few years. It came on the Disney Channel in the wee hours of the morning. I stayed up to watch it, and found it even more entertaining than the first time. The story, the scenery and the characters are as good as they come. I know that if anyone takes the time to view this film, they will find it definitely worth seeing a second time. It's very memorable in more ways than one. I would recommend this film to anyone because it is both entertaining and educational for all concerned.

s

This is a really fun movie with great narration. The acting is sub-par generally, but this only seems to add to the effect of a rough logging camp and its workers.

Adults should find this film enjoyable, but it's mainly for young people. This film deals with issues that youth will find prescient: loneliness, alienation, fitting-in, and growing up... all through that scampish yet delightful cougar.

Much better than Disney's silly, flashy, A.D.D. inducing, garish animated movies of recent years; "Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar" should not be overlooked, parents.