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Created Apr 27, 2011 10:31PM PST • Edited Aug 19, 2013 01:20AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Good 3.0

   Billed as a warm and fuzzy Disney Nature adventure, African Cats instead is a hair-raising, heartrending drama. It profiles two families, a cheetah and her cubs, and a lioness and her cub, each of which is in mortal danger for nearly the entire movie.

   There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this. It is nature after all. It’s just that a G-rated Disney movie isn’t supposed to be upsetting.

   African Cats inevitably needs to be compared to The Last Lions, a recent, similar yet superior movie. The Last Lions, a National Geographic production, is unapologetically tough and is rated PG to reflect it. It is also a more vivid film and more dramatically engaging.

   Nature lovers, and big cat fans in particular, should take in African Cats. Just realize that it contains more than a little dread and heartache. Even better for those that can handle it, seek out The Last Lions. (Now out of theaters.) It’s the King of the African Cat movies.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

5. Male Stars Very Good 3.5

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars OK 2.5

   Samuel L. Jackson

10. Film

    Good 3.0

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Good 3.0

13. Music Bad 1.0

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.7

    While little actual killing is shown, the aftereffects of wild violence is not shirked. This will be upsetting for sensitive souls.

17. Sex Innocent 1.0

18. Violence Brutal 2.7

19. Rudeness Polite 1.5

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0