Pride (2004 TV Movie) User Reviews

An addition to your family library... with "Pride"

[kinsmed · 7/10 · 9 July 2004]

Not since "Born Free" has a movie given such breadth, such tension and hope.

We are privileged to following the breathless perils of Suki and Linus, a precocious pair of lion cubs as they continually get in trouble with every conceivable danger surrounding them- they encounter enough adventures to fuel a series!

As Suki grows, children learn to understand the process of their own development and the courage and curse of their own individuality.

Seamless digital compositing provides a fascinating portrayal that is fun and engaging for adults, and yet compelling and educational for children.

Boasting the vocal talents of Britain's finest personalities coupled with the majestic sweep of the African savanna, "Pride" will easily become a classic that parents will want to use to introduce their children to the beauty and drama of the wilder side of nature.

Well it wasn't bad but it wasn't extremely well either

[neo256 · 7/10 · 11 November 2005]

Well I can't deny I like the big cats. That's one of the things that attracted me in this movie. The talking animals aren't annoying in the way of "Damn that is so fake". It looks somewhat natural in someway, it is very well computer edited. Still there are some flaws in the way they move and some scenes that did look pretty fake. Still it isn't annoying. It's a pretty good story and it's pretty realistic in the way how lions live in the real world. The biggest ledge for most people will be the talking lions part. If you accept that and accept the minor flaws: you will probably like this story.

It's family compatible so round up your kids and have good time.

So meh it's actually funny

[AliceKingsley2 · 5/10 · 11 June 2021]

The premise of the movie really looks good on paper. It had a great concept, but a mediocre and later good execution in terms of the story. Suki and. Linus have character development. Some of the characters are one dimensional like James and Eddie just sitting there talking to each other playing the role of old men hanging out. I thought Macheeba was one dimensional as well at first, but I did she her as more than just an overprotective mother. The animation on the faces to me get laughably bad. Not only that, but it's a little bit dated for a TV movie released in 2004. The voice acting was stupendous and so do the visuals. There are moments where sometimes, I wish the characters would just shut up and.breathe like a.regular creature on planet earth. Some moments kind of reminded me of Lion King a little bit like Suki going vegetarian and Harry.falling to his doom (which was even more funnier than Mufasa's death in the lion king remake). I can tell some clips of the movie have been reused at times and some of the lip movements don't match to what they're saying. I even can tell the fight scenes reuse clips from other documentary movies and series. I understand it's to save time and effort. Some moments feel easily predictable. This TV movie is a kid distracter. All it did was made me wish I was watching videos from Rob.the Ranger, GG Conservation and The Lion Whisperer instead.

The DVD 'making of' extra is even better than the movie!

[TxMike · 7 October 2004]

'Pride' is a small, innocuous movie that tells a story much like animated 'The Lion King', but using real lions and computer animation of animal faces to make it appear that they really are talking. We see lots of shots of lion cubs romping and running through the grass, and exquisite close-ups of mature lions eating or reposing, and many times staring just a few inches away from the lens of the camera. How did they do this? The DVD extras tell a very interesting story, a story I found more interesting than the one told in the movie. However, I suspect that most children will really enjoy a movie where the animals appear to be really speaking.

STOP reading if you want to discover it fresh for yourself, but the following comments only address how the movie was filmed, NOT the actual story. Lions from two sources were used. First, tame lions in a preserve were filmed for many stock shots of running, jumping, crossing water on a fallen tree, things like that. Enticed with large pieces of meat at the end of a pole, the lions were very cooperative.

More inventive was the use of a 'boulder cam', a radio-controlled camera inside an enclosure shaped like a boulder, but on wheels. Controlled from a nearby truck, it could, and did, follow the lions into hunting and feeding sessions, into the midst of their den, even climbing large rock formations, for a total of 300 days. After initial curiosity, the lions accepted this 'boulder on wheels' as a part of their environment.

The extras also showed how computer techniques were used to make the lions change expressions and appear to speak.

stay cub

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 11 September 2020]

Suki (Kate Winslet), her brother Linus, their mother Macheeba, and their cousin Fleck are lions in a pride ruled by Eddie and James. When two wanderers Dark and Harry attack, the lionesses are forced to help. Dark and Harry are driven away but Fleck's mother is killed. Macheeba decides to adopt Fleck.

This is an anthropomorphized nature TV doc. BBC needs to get out of this Disney territory. It could still work if the cubs stay being cubs. Baby animals having adventures is often good family fare. Once they grow up, the charm of innocence is gone. Suki turning pacifist is just silly. The conflict fits more with Shakespeare than nature. Everything is manufactured and the talking mouths are also a little weird.

Funny, exciting, charming plus much more!

[Mightyzebra · 8/10 · 15 March 2007]

This is a really good film. It has a cast of Kate Winslet as Suki (one of the cubs) Rupert Graves as Linus (another cub), Martin Freeman as Fleck (the last cub, who's handsome but annoying), Helen Mirren as Macheeba (Linus'es and Suki's mum) plus more!

This film's setting is really beautiful and the real lions - were they tame or not tame? I expect they were made tame for the picture, or else they were just machinery, which I don't think is true.

This film has a good plot and storyline. It has the first half of the film as Linus, Suki and Fleck cubs and the second half of them as grown-ups.

The jokes are absolutely TOP. My favourite joke (Don't worry, no spoilers) is when Macheeba goes "We're like the stars." Linus says, "What we come out at night?" "We're pretty but don't do anything?" asks Suki. "No," goes Fleck. "Everyone points at us."

So watch this lovely film!! Enjoy! :) ;) :()

P.S Everyone who doesn't like this film must have been very grumpy when they watched it and I think they should watch it again.

a lion named Suki refuses to hunt because she abhors killing

[palebluedot19135 · 8/10 · 21 June 2004]

First off, this movie has a fantastic voice cast, including John Hurt, Kate Winslet, and Robbie Coltrane. And the actors, all real lions (with some facial expressions added via computer graphics) are excellent.

The story is also a good one. Suki (voiced by Kate Winslet) is shunned out of her pride for refusing to contribute to their food supply by hunting. She is disgusted by killing. Other subplots include fighting between the pride and "the wanderers," the "bad guys" of the film who refuse to live with the pride, and instead reside in a barren area of the savanna.

I am most impressed with the acting of the lions, especially the cubs. I would imagine that getting lions to behave as desired is not an easy task.

I liked that this animal film wasn't all cuteness and light like some others, it had it's edgy moments, with the lions displaying their inate fierceness.

Overall, an enjoyable experience, and one I highly recommend.

It could have been perfect!

[Sherazade · 8/10 · 6 March 2006]

But what was with the lazy visual effects? It was so sad to see in this day and age, the people in charge of CGI and visuals or whatever use such painful cut and paste methods that would have even been shameful to see in a film from 50 years ago! Nevertheless the all star cast including; Kate Winslet, Sean Bean, Jim Broadbent, Rupert Graves and Helen Mirren lend their talents in voice-work to this wonderful storytelling of the lives of lions and the animals they hunt/and are hunted by in the animal kingdom. Suki (Winslet) and Linus (Graves) are both sibling cubs living in the Pride under the careful watch of their mother Macheba (Mirren), one day while playing, the cubs decide to venture out to a part of the Pride that is forbidden and there Suki spots a wild lion called Dark (Bean), whom she instantly falls in love with. The trouble is, he's not a part of their Pride nor does anybody know anything about these wild pack of lions other than the fact that they are dangerous and to be avoided. This does nothing to deter Suki though and her love turns her into a full fledged rebellious vegetarian (yes, you heard right "VEGETARIAN") lioness. Years pass by and she grows into a beautiful teen lioness, she rejects all her potential suitors and ventures out of the Pride one her own after a fight with her mother. While in the wild, she crosses paths with the now much older but still suave Dark once more, still in love with him, they mate and she bears his cubs only to find out, that Dark is just like the animal version of the typical human male. LOL! He deserts her and she is left to care for her cubs alone. You can only imagine what happens to her and her cubs in the wild. Use your imagination. That said, there are a lot of sub-plots and plot twists which makes for a quite interesting animated film. It was a two-part mini series when I saw it on telly and I have since bought the DVD. It's worth a watch! Kate Winslet continues to dazzle us with her rare vocal talents! She breaks your heart, even in animation.

'Pride' Deserves to Be Watched and Owned

[TheCajunPhoenix · 8/10 · 27 August 2006]

I think 'Pride' should be part of everyone' DVD collections because the interaction between the cocky Suki (Kate Winslet), her less adventurous brother Linus (Rupert Graves), and the orphaned Fleck (Martin Freeman) when they fight over who gets nursed by Macheeba (Helen Mirren) first is hilarious. Not so hilarious is the disapproval over Suki's infatuation with Dark (Sean Bean), the patriarch of the scrublands pride, as Dark and Harry (John Hurt) think they can take what James (Robbie Coltrane) and Eddie (Jim Broadbent) want to keep. I like that Dark is not completely cold-hearted, as he admits that Harry is a hell of a hunting partner. The deal is, Dark ends up with all the scrublands lionesses, not Harry, and he also literally makes every scene he's in his own. Suki's tantrum before she elopes with Dark minor spoiler) underscores that she has to experience life on her own to fully appreciate her family. Fleck came across as a big sissy, though, which makes Linus look more macho. Lush (Kwame Kwei-Armah) didn't really seem to fit in so easily, and Kwei-Armah's voice delivery sounded last-minute as well. Big one-ups to the older actors for some amazing screen chemistry.

A classic I will always enjoy.

[millzyluke · 10/10 · 17 July 2020]

I remember this first coming on the television when I was 8 years old and it being one of my absolute favourites. My grandad who loves anything to do with animals also enjoyed it just as much, if not more than I did! His favourite part being the bit with the ear joke. "Ear today gone tomorrow what?!" Whenever I hear that line, I just get an image of him laughing in my head, so this film also triggers happy memories for me!

A lot of films where animals have a human talking as them don't always work but this does, the script brings personality to the characters and is believable.

Another thing is that I don't think this film can only be enjoyed by the young, it can be enjoyed by the young and the young at heart older people. I'm now 23 and I watched it again today and absolutely loved it, again.

Please watch this with your children. A decent(ish) version of it can be found on putlockers website.