DVD Review: An Elephant's Journey (2017)

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Alternate Title: Phoenix Wilder and The Great Elephant Adventure

Working as a writer, editor, producer, and director (oh my), when it comes to crafting tales of adventure that are suitable for the entire family, Richard Boddington is a veritable jack-of-all-trades.

Returning to the same Gary Paulsen-like premise of an unprepared child lost in nature that made his 2013 picture Against the Wild such a refreshing surprise, although An Elephant's Journey isn't as good as Wild, (which spawned a sequel), it's still sure to thrill young viewers graduating from animated adventures to live action stories with heroes their own age.

Grander in scope both in terms of its African setting as well as Boddington's decision to one-up the horse in Flicka or dog in Disney classics by giving his young lead, Phoenix (Sam Ashe Arnold) an elephant friend, as Journey begins, the recently orphaned Phoenix moves from Texas to Africa to live with his sweet-natured Aunt Sarah (Elizabeth Hurley).

Eager to explore his new surroundings by accompanying his Uncle Jack (Tertius Meintjes) on safari the very next day, after he gets distracted by a small animal during a short break, Phoenix is panicked to find that the parade of vehicles has left him behind.

Lost in the wilderness just twenty-four hours after setting foot on a new continent, while it requires a pretty big suspension-of-belief to imagine that Jack would've let him out of his sight long enough to get lost, Boddington makes the confusion more believable as the frightened Phoenix wanders further into the bush rather than simply staying by the side of the road until his uncle returns.

And as his guardians work alongside local military search and rescue to retrace their steps, Phoenix settles in for his first long night in a new land, only to find an unexpected ally a day later after he frees a bull elephant from a trap.

Both guarding Phoenix and giving him someone to talk to, the boy’s bond with the elephant he dubs Indlovu (which means "The Unstoppable") strengthens even more when they come across a group of ruthless poachers and vow to rescue the animals held captive in their camp.

While his ability to train Indlovu with an orange well enough to ride him to the level of a circus act is probably only going to work on the youngest audience members, the majestic blend of beautiful scenery and large animals freely roaming the land make it an agreeable enough fantasy, at least initially.

Unsure just how far to take the villainous threat, especially when a predictable but inefficiently explained twist is revealed that makes the situation all the more personal for Phoenix, as Journey continues, it spirals off into four distinctly different strands of plot that never quite weave back together into one.

Rather than pull us in for the rest of the movie, Elephant moves uneasily back-and-forth between the lost in the wild adventure, Flicka like coming-of-age tale, drama about a family trying to come together as one, and a thriller that doubles as a message movie about the evils of poaching and guns. And although together, the first three or last three storylines could've easily evolved into something stronger, in the end An Elephant's Journey suffers from the lack of a cohesive plot.

However, the film's dedication to sharing the truth about the vanishing African elephant population to young viewers who will be in a position to help save these amazing animals someday proves once again that, despite Journey's problems overall, much like Phoenix, Boddington's heart is in the right place.

Text ©2018, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy or screener link of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique. Cookies Notice: This site incorporates tools (including advertiser partners and widgets) that use cookies and may collect some personal information in order to display ads tailored to you etc. Please be advised that neither Film Intuition nor its site owner has any access to this data beyond general site statistics (geographical region etc.) as your privacy is our main concern.

DVD Review: Against the Wild (2014)

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Above average family adventure film blends Gary Paulsen’s beloved young adult novel Hatchet with Disney’s The Parent Trap for this impressively made, if at times admittedly contrived feature.

An intelligently structured work, Against the Wild chronicles two siblings who must put their thinking caps on and petty squabbles aside if they’re going to survive when the small plane carrying them to their dad’s place crash lands in the middle of the forest.

With their pilot Charlie knocked out and in need of medical care following sudden midair engine trouble, the two formerly feuding children start thinking on their feet. Unloading their heavy suitcases, Hannah (Erin Pitt) and Zach Wade (CJ Adams) reconfigure and repack their gear with the bare necessities – taking a majority of what’s available in the emergency kit and leaving the rest along with a note for the brave flier whose grace under pressure saved their lives.

Taking their Alaskan malamute dog Chinook with them for protection, the two head in the direction they landed, determined to reach the shoreline in order to get Charlie the help he needs. But without any adult supervision and only their own limited knowledge gleaned from cable nature TV shows and Cub Scouts along with common sense to guide them, the Wades are put to the test.

And soon they realize they have to survive not only the drop in temperatures at nightfall and harsh elements but the various animals of the wild that might be following their every move including grizzly bears during mating season.

Yet while the children act with incredible maturity – so much so in fact that some of their wise-beyond-their-years dialogue as Hannah sizes up Charlie as a reasonably attractive man and wonders why he’s still single is dubious and awkward to say the least, the Wade parents are a different story altogether.

Saddled with wooden dialogue and far too much emotional posturing as a stereotypical separated couple wherein he’s the predictable workaholic and she and the children have been ignored for years, the usually talented adult leads (Natasha Henstridge and Ted Whittall) come off unnatural and amateurish by default.

Reuniting to worry, argue and speak in expository paragraphs while helicopters and search parties go out looking for the kids with zero optimism, Henstridge and Whittall are basically there as adult placeholders embodying the destination of “home” that the kids are trying to reach.

And while the contrived, blink-and-you-missed-it fast family reunion that arises just in the nick of time hits a major false note in what had otherwise up until then been a stellar adventure film about children realizing they’re stronger working together than apart, it’s easily forgiven due to the quality of the overall work and its vital message.

Newly released on DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment, this Dove Family Approved feature makes a nice change of pace from traditional family fare. Moreover, it’s to the filmmaker’s credit that you can tell right from the start how much respect that he has for the intelligence and dignity of his young characters.

In the end, its flaws are forgotten as going against the grain of current Hollywood family fare that far too often treats children as a focus group or market they need to "sell" rather than young human beings to be empowered makes writer/editor/director Richard Boddington’s Against the Wild an even stronger survivor overall.

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Greener Mountains

Director:
Lee Shallat Chemel

In Giuseppe Tornatore’s The Legend of 1900, after an abandoned baby is left aboard a great ocean liner, he spends the rest of his life at sea. And although he’s tempted by love, as an adult, “1900” (Tim Roth) finds himself unable to leave the vessel that has become his home. While 1900’s oceanic landscape endlessly changed as the ship moved from port to port and his circumstances were played for melancholic fairy tale like whimsy in Tornatore’s period piece, in four-time Emmy nominated director Lee Shallat Chemel’s feature film debut Greener Mountains, we’re offered a similar set-up but a decidedly sunnier approach.

In Chemel’s contemporary, warmly inviting film, although the equally abandoned child JP Barton (Chris Heuisler) has also lived in the same location where he was discovered and for him the view never changes, after only a few introductory, gorgeously photographed shots, we realize that compared to 1900, he’s living in a far more idyllic situation. Set amidst the breathtakingly picturesque Vermont setting of Barton’s Family Resort, we instantly recall Chemel’s other television credits working in other welcoming communities such as Gilmore Girls’ Stars Hollow and Northern Exposure’s Cicely, Alaska. After a cinematographic dream of a credit sequence in which any single frame could be pulled out and turned into a postcard, we’re introduced to the now college-aged JP who nearly runs the resort alongside his best friend, caretaker and the only family he’s ever known, Barton’s owner M (Nan Martin) who also narrates the film.

While M’s slightly clichéd narration and the film’s frequent, confusing, and poorly transitioned over-reliance on flashbacks do pull us out of the film at times, it’s such an engaging, appealing, and refreshingly wholesome summer sleeper that those who are willing to overlook the contrivances will find themselves entertained. An ideal family film that seems like a perfect programming choice for a cable family or teen based network, Greener Mountains evolves into a romantic coming of age tale as the sweet-natured JP finds himself questioning his limited existence when the lovely Alice (General Hospital’s Kimberly McCullough) arrives from New York, hoping for artistic inspiration and an escape from a recent breakup.

Naturally, JP is drawn to the young painter but fears that the true details of his life would fail to impress a brainy city girl. So, predictably, especially for the romantic comedy paradigm which lately has favored the mistaken identity plot device, completely head over heels and willing to do anything to win her heart, he proceeds to fabricate an entire back-story about himself, trying to pass as an NYU student specializing in environmental architecture. Enlisting the aid of a friend in giving him a crash course on artistic masterpieces and Manhattan geography, JP and Alice grow much closer but their fledging relationship is threatened with the arrival of his manipulative, scheming, smugly handsome and conceited relative Eric (Brad Raider).

Essentially playing a Rob Lowe type versus Alice’s likable Alyssa Milano-like presence and JP’s easily winning, boyish Jake Gyllenhaal demeanor, we realize it’s only a matter of time before Eric — M’s grandson and JP’s adopted uncle — draws a wedge between the two. And although we sense he’s felt a certain rivalry and jealousy with the adopted and universally preferred and loyal JP, Eric’s true motives are revealed later on as we realize that he’s even more obsessed with the elderly M’s failing health and the future of the resort, which pushes the romance to the back burner as JP realizes not only how much is at stake but must make some tough decisions about his own future and just what he considers to be important in his life.

Respecting the intelligence of the audience who have faced several “lying lovers” and “spoiled schemers” plots, writer Hector Hill and director Chemel enrich what could have been an overly formulaic script by filling out the rest of the cast with some great supporting scene stealers including Christopher Guest alumni Michael Hitchcock as well as a nice parallel between the main story and the resort’s annual production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Despite a small screen feel, Greener Mountains is painterly photographed quality fare from Waterfall Films, which recently made its debut on DVD after earning a Jury Award at the Boston International Film Festival.