Phoenix Wilder and the Great Elephant Adventure

I was disappointed with this one. I really hoped it'd be an amazing movie with great visuals and a story. But after about 10 minutes in to the movie, I badly wanted this to be a documentary rather than a feature film. Stupid decisions the characters make are just there for the progress but the logic is failed badly.

For kids I think this has some good vibe but not for adults.

Newly orphaned Phoenix Wilder (Sam Ashe Arnold) travels to South Africa to live with his Aunt Sarah (Elizabeth Hurley). She runs a safari outfit with her husband Uncle Jack from his family compound. Elephants on the reserve are being hunted by illegal poachers. Phoenix gets lost while on an outing and befriends an elephant.

Phoenix surprising the poachers is a silly conceit. He has a slow-moving giant elephant with him. The poachers have to be dumb and blind to not see him coming. All of it is staged like a Disney kiddie show. It's always a little weird when a kid has to Home Alone the bad guys when the bad guys are geared for war. As for Uncle Jack, it's an unwelcome revelation. It muddies the simple morality without giving back something compelling. It's nice to see the animals but this is a bad kiddie movie.

I felt dumber for watching this "children's movie". The director and editor should be removed from the movie business for letting the word "boy" or "good boy" be uttered no less than 500 times in this film. Huley's performance was also very lackluster..

This is not a blockbuster. It's not a massive epic with explosions and CGI. It's a wonderful story, independently made, about a boy's experience in Africa and the elephant he encounters. The cinematography is excellent and the lead, Sam Ashe Arnold, puts in a moving performance. The story itself could be tighter, as well as the editing, but in spite of that, the story is engaging. The children in the audience seemed to enjoy the film very much.

Note: At our screening, there was an interview for the first 10 minutes with a gentleman who runs an elephant reserve in South Africa. Anyone who left might have missed the actual film entirely, so read the first review accordingly.

This is a great movie to introduce the plight of elephants in the wild and the dangers of poaching.

Good family film for movie night. I can recommend this film to other parents, it's clean, and your kids should enjoy it.