An alphabetical run through Disney Plus leads me to "A Tale of Two Critters" one of a number of docu-dramas that Disney produced that pushes a story, told in voice over, onto footage of real animals interacting in the wild. Originally the film went out as part of a double header along with "The Rescuers".
Narrated by Mayf Nutter, the film tells the story of a bear cub and a young raccoon who are separated from their families by an accident. They band together, initially to try and get back to their kin, but later just to survive. As Winter comes, they stay nearby to each other until the years and their natures push them apart.
I really didn't like this. Maybe it's just that tastes have moved on since 1977, but I didn't find the narrative thrust onto rather generic animal footage particularly interesting. Mayf Nutter's narration is fine, in fact I quite liked the timbre of his voice, but a connection between his story and the footage didn't materialise for me.
Maybe it's just a level of audience sophistication nowadays but, though some shots are surprising, it's easy to see when the animals aren't actually interacting - rather than it's footage from somewhere else entirely. The footage of the tree, where the animals live "together" for example is clearly not the same place. I know that it was a couple of decades earlier, but Disney doesn't have the best track record when it comes to the welfare of animals in their documentaries, after the "White Wilderness" controversy. I can't find anything online about issues with this film but the footage of the bear cub and racoon floating down river on a log together seems really specific to have been gotten by accident.
Despite my uneasy feelings about some of the footage, ultimately, even at just 48 minutes my primary feelings about this film was that I was bored.
