Livres e Selvagens

Better than average film that inhabits the same genre circle as "The Great Elephant Escape," "The Ivory Hunters," "Born Wild," "A Far Off Place," "Cheetah" and the grandfather of all of them, "Clarence the Crossed-Eyed Lion" and it's TV spinoff "Daktari." Africa, saving animals (in this case elephants), colorful scenery, an American family, evil poachers, we've seen it before, but what the heck, it's better than seeing this week's newest ripoff of "Halloween." The photography nicely displays the color of modern Africa though the sound is so muddy that at times it's difficult to hear anyone (not that it matters much).

Let me start by saying that I grew up in Zimbabwe — not just in Zim but in the bush, & so I welcomed the chance to see the beautiful scenery of my homeland.

That said, let me add that I didn't finish this film, as it was made 'Bambi' look like the 'Dirty Dozen', for at least Bambi was reasonably accurate — the deer didn't get a job with NASA or solve the troubles of the world! The Zim scenery was beautiful, but then even Hollywood can't change that. However, the price the filmmakers paid to use that scenery (I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt here) was too high. For example:

1. The way that the bad guys were mostly white. Yes, there are some whites at the top of poaching but there are damn'd few at the 'coalface' end, in the field! Racism is bad whichever way it goes.

2. I'm sorry to disillusion you, folks, but there are precious few North Americans even in African cities, let alone in the middle of the bush. The fact that the only 2 white folk in the district are both from across the Atlantic is pushing coincidence towards fantasy. That's like showing a film about a Mexican game park & the only 'gringos' are a Brit & a Norwegian! Not very plausible.

3. The facilities in the bush were all like some a safari holiday arranged by Abercrombe and Kent. I know they were too much like roughing it for the kids but in reality, anyone working in the bush has to put up with a lot less comfort than these guys did.

Poaching is a blight upon the face of civilisation & anyone who buys or uses ivory should be forced to work on an anti-poaching patrol for a while, as many of my school friends (black & white) did. Therefore, anything that publicises this evil should be welcomed. However, this film wasted the opportunity to do that, preferring instead a scenario whereby a modern day (& suitably PC) John Wayne type figure comes in & saves Africa.

A few well-chosen changes & a writer that had least spent time in the outer suburbs of Harare, if not into the bush itself, could have made this a worthwhile film. As it is, the Eurovision Song Contest would be preferable — if that's possible!

Running Wild was an ok movie. I love animals, and could totally relate to some of the scenes in there, but the acting wasn't as good as most movies, and some scenes were very kind of fake. All in All, Brooke Nevin, Gregory Harrison, and Lori Hallier were the only ones who could really act. And besides, a 14 year old girl would SO not have a crush on that old dude. And the wardrobe? For Brooke a.k.a Angela's wardrobe, they put a green shirt and blue plaid pants together! Lord Forbid!

In Running Wild we see Gregory Harrison as Matt Robinson, a retired major and widower trying to bond with his kids so he thinks it would be nice to take them to Africa where poachers are killing elephants. His 14 year old daughter Angela acts like a snob, but she just happens to be hiding her real feelings after losing her mother and her little brother Nicky is just your average annoying little brother. Matt meets Rachel (lori Hallier) who works at the orphanage for animals and he takes a liking to her whilst Angela gets saved by an Englishman named Walton and she gets a crush on him, but the question remains is WHY she falls for him! All of a sudden they find a wounded baby elephant and Angela bonds with it naming it Dandy, but there are still poachers around hunting for elephants. I only got this movie because I am a fan of Greg, but I must admit the kids casting was terrible except from Munyaradzi Kanaventi (mouthful!) who plays Isaac the son of the ranger who works with Matt. There was no romance in this movie so you can really say, "Oh so that's how they fell in love!" They go to see Walton and yet there is NO romance! Okay so it wasn't a love story, but if it was it would've have been worth watching. It's just a bunch of people walking around in Africa or flying in a helicopter. There are 2-3 action scenes, the last one was okay, but the others lasted a few seconds. Recommended only if you're a BIG fan of one of the actors in this movie.

This actor who is based in London now, who is well known for his advert relating to shoes, performed an excellent, deep character considering the work: he shows his depth and range in this movie, taking an elephant kick to the head: shooting blanks from a second hand automatic weapon from Russia into flammable roofing right next to a child wearing no ear protection: standing 4m away from exploding 44 gallon drums of petrol, and all in the name of art.