Coup de cœur sauvage

If this were a travel documentary it would be worthy of all the praise other reviewers have given it. South Africa was wonderful. Casting was great. I was happy to see Britanny Bristow getting bigger parts. She is really good. The only problem is this was NOT a travel movie but was supposed to be a Romance. The romantic leads were well paired, but the love scenes were void of emotion or "fireworks". It had the potential for 10 stars but without the romance it only earned 5.

She said at the beginning of the movie that she visited the reserve when she was five and then again when she was fourteen. Later on in the movie she said she fed the elephant when she was there at 10 years old.

Beautiful location, gorgeous shots of animals and vistas, gentle romantic storyline with well casted main characters and the most wonderful singing by Cape Town youth choir as a finale. Would love to have the sountrack.

The story was thin but that's not rare for Hallmark movies. The lead male actor was neither attractive nor a good actor and that was the main problem for me. There was no romantic energy in this film at all and I've seen Chabert strike sparks with a plethora of male leads. That bit of poor casting really cost this film.

The animals, the scenery, and the South African cast were wonderful. In fact.

I didn't realize until now the connection Lacey Chaubert and I have - we both have Cajun ancestry. I first saw her in "Party of Five", she was about 12 when it started. She stars in this movie, she was about 35 when it was filmed.

She plays Kira, a website designer living and working in Chicago. He has a relative in S. Africa, she had visited a couple of times as she was growing up but hadn't been there as an adult. Now she gets news he has died, she is in his will, she needs to travel to S. Africa for the reading of the will.

It turns out to be quite a shock, he wanted to keep his wildlife reserve, with elephants, lions, zebras, and other indigenous African animals, in the family so it was willed to Kira. She is a Chicago girl, she knows nothing about reserves and animals and she is certain she will not keep it. So her task is to find a buyer and sell it.

But this being a Hallmark movie, love will play a big role and as the story moves along Kira finds out what her priorities really are. My wife and I enjoyed it at home, streaming on Amazon Prime. Being a Hallmark movie it is clean, pleasant entertainment. Plus the cinematography in S. Africa is splendid!