Comments: Childish narrator and melodramatic phony soundtrack but …

The one where the three month old cub gets kicked by a buffalo and it shatters his pelvis leaving him to haul his back end around like baggage

The moms of the pride leave him for dead, because, been there done that, but his brothers and sisters try to encourage him. One scene where the pride is dining on a zebra shows the little guy off in the distance dragging his dead ass to the feast. Heartbreaking

Deducting half a star because Junior never gets a proper burial. He's just written out of the script

2024.09.17
[update] There is a follow up to this called Lion Dynasty: A Matter of Pride which is about one of the cubs in this film. "Junior" was her brother and he makes an appearance in the "10 Years Ago" flashback opening act

I rewatched both of them recently and am reducing them both to 4 stars. They are above average in the footage and general story departments, but both suffer from precious narration and dramatically over the top soundtracks.



Summary: The Ruaha National Park in the south of Tanzania used to be a true paradise for wildlife gathered around the rich Ruaha river.

Today however, its sparkling waters are nothing more than a remote dream. Scorching heat and severe drought have dried up the riverbed, leaving animals wandering around, suffering from dehydration.

A life-or-death quest for water has begun and the bewildered animals have no choice but to follow the dry riverbed upstream hoping to find water.

Witness to this tragedy, a pride of hungry and thirsty lionesses and their cubs overlook the last pockets of water. Although it is dangerous for the young cubs to travel, the females have no choice but to follow the herds of herbivores in their migration.

Days go by as the leaden sun scorches the savanna and the winds blow away the few hopes of rain. Will the lionesses and the other animals find water in time to save themselves?