Review
TWO BROTHERS
Starring Guy Pearce and some jungle cats
Directed by Jean-Jaques Annaud
Opens Friday, June 25
Check listings
Now this is the kind of stuff we used to expect from family movies. Remember that magical era? It didn’t matter what kind of creature came wandering across the screen (and boy, we saw ‘em all didn’t we). Lions ’n’ tigers ’n’ bears – if they had fur, they were cute, dammit. Forget the fact that these adorable animals value our internal organs about as much as you and I value a Whopper with cheese. They’re soooooooo cuddly. Don’t you just wanna give them a great big hug?
As much as he’ll never admit it, that’s the goal of director Jean-Jacques Annaud with Two Brothers. Sure, he’ll preach the issues the film hits on – everything from the evils of French colonialism to earth preservation – but what he really wants is for you to love his walking, purring, carnivorous plush toy tigers. He’s even forced to beat the poor kitties down a little so you’ll sympathize even more with them. If you emerge from this movie with a youngster who wants to exchange the family Shih Tzu for a tiger cub, Annaud wins.
Based in French Indochina during the early 20th century, Two Brothers is a remarkably picturesque tale about a pair of infant tigers, separated when their forest den is invaded by humans. One is scooped up by a manly English hunter (Guy Pearce), but eventually goes the Dumbo route and ends up in the circus learning humiliating tricks. The other becomes the pampered pet of a little boy, but is soon trained to become a fighting machine. Not to let the cat out of the bag (pun intended, thanks), the brothers do eventually reunite, but it’s not under the happiest of circumstances. (Think cockfight. Now put claws and stripes on the birds, and you get the picture.)
The rumour is, Annaud had a rough storyline in mind for Two Brothers, rolled a ton of footage on the tigers interacting without any kind of human interruption, then filled in the plot around them. Once you see the finished product, the notion of such a plan seems entirely plausible.
As he displayed 15 years ago with The Bear, Annaud is masterful at capturing animals in action. Watching his subjects play and explore their habitat is surprisingly engaging and, as already mentioned, it makes them pretty darn irresistible. It’s all enough to make you wonder, why the trite plot and wooden performances? This movie likely would’ve played better as a documentary. |
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