Director: Jean Jacques Annuad
Starring: Guy Pearce
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Plot: Two tiger cubs have grown up in the ruins of the old Buddhist temples in the middle of the Southeast Asian jungle. But life for the two cubs changes when Aiden McRory (Guy Pearce) comes to steal the Buddha statues from the ruins. One tiger is sold off to a circus, where homesickness and living in a cage rob him of his spirit. Meanwhile, the other tiger becomes the beloved companion of the governor’s lonely young son, until an accident forces the family to give him away to a man who turn him into a fighter for sport. When they are fully-grown the brothers find their way to reunite but as forced enemies, pitted against each other.

Is this BAMBI of tigers? Yes. IS this another THE BEAR? No, not likely. This is a new film by Jean Jacques Annaud who brought us underrated films like THE NAME OF THE ROSE and THE BEAR. Unlike THE BEAR, this is a scripted tale of a journey of two tiger cubs. Often in films like this, which have an environmental message, the hunters are presented as two-dimensional characters that are just obstacles for the main characters which are animals. McRory played by Guy Pearce is not portrayed in this stereotype; instead he is shown to be somewhat compassionate in many ways. Earlier in the film, we witness as he feeds Kumahl honey sweets, later when he discovers Kumahl has been taken to the circus, he pays the owners to take good care of him.  Little thing like that really add spice to the story, without which TWO BROTHERS would be as one-dimensional as most animal movies.

And yes, just like any films about journey of animals, this film embraces sentimental value. It will surely have those who cried during BAMBI shedding a few tears. There are some nice turn-arounds in the story as well but this is a family film, it is not something you wouldn’t see it coming from miles away. The only major problem with the film is that its pacing is slow. It is very understandable to feature as much magnificent things those tigers do, but the film could be more tightly edited to enhance the story rather than the animals itself.

This film is surprisingly well worth watching. There is some violence, but most of it occurs off-screen. It is a mystery why Universal Pictures didn’t really promote this film as much as they did two of the worst films to come out in years: VAN HELSING and THUNDERBIRDS. Unlike those films, TWO BROTHERS will live on for years to come.

Video: 3 out of 5
The DVD is presented in the film’s theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 and this anamorphic widescreen transfer of the film is pretty vivid. Colors are warm and well delineated. The dark scenes contain nice shadow delineation, and contrast. Only problem is since this is shot on HD, some camera movements leave a ghostly render problem.

Audio: 3 out of 5
English 5.1 Track has nice use of rear channels for atmospheric effects, especially all the scenes takes place in the jungle. Dialogue is nice and clear free of any hiss or distortion.  But for today’s standard, it isn’t something to be impressed with.

Extras:
Audio commentary by director Jean-Jacques Annaud: most interesting stuff was that he apologizes for the accent very early on. We get how much he loves animals but overall, it isn’t compelling enough.

Fun With Tigers
Wild About Tigers: a 35 minute documentary about tigers narrated by Guy Pearce

Call Of The Wild: the quick montage short of “wilds” on set.

The Cast
Tiger Trainers: a short featurette about how to train a tiger

Tiger Brothers:  inside look at the tigers used for the film.

Production
Tiger Tech: a featurette explaining of why animatronics sometimes had to be used in the film,

Tiger Cam: Basically they rationalize why humans had to be caged at some time.

Location Scouting: location scouting stills which director Jean-Jacques Annaud narrating the way through.

Costume Design: a video gallery of costumes

Story Boards: Storyboard to final film comparison

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