Born Free

Simple, sincere and completely captivating tale may seem at times like a National Geographic special writ large, but the completely natural, unadorned performances from McKenna and Travers, combined with fine contributions from 'Elsa', help to make this something special. Gorgeously photographed in widescreen, with John Barry's iconic score icing on the cake.

B

Definitely a movie with a lion-sized case of the cutes. More like watching an extended episode of Wild Kingdom or Those Wacky Critters than an actual flick. And George and Joy's relationship practically has you screaming for them to take a poke at each other (well, it did me anyway)...okay, so they did get in one argument toward the end--big deal (but mostly it was just sheepish grins and wah-wah-wahhh). Broke me up as a little kid though; even just hearing the song made me burst into tears.

The first ten minutes are cute lion cubs rolling around and being adorable. When we finally meet the two main (people) characters, the movie becomes slow and wooden, interspersed with "oh, you crazy cat" moments. It's not terrible, but it might have been better if the idea of should-you-even-try-this had been developed more. The scenery and the cameos by random wildlife were nice.

Romantic scenery, a refreshing 1960's design palette, that sumptuous John Barry soundtrack culminating in Sinatra's trademark mastery, and a delectably drillable MILF coalesce to produce a timeless, rock hard, environmentalist crotch steeple. After watching this I released my 12-year old Maltese into some woods behind a local Home Depot. You will do likewise.

MVP: John Barry.