Apr 09, 2011

By Sean Murphy

The message of the beautiful wildlife documentary, Born to Be Wild was not lost on my seven year old daughter.

 

“Be as good to animals as you would to people.” She told me with a smile on her face and added, “Especially the babies”. This is a message that I am sure the subjects of this documentary would be delighted was getting across to a new generation.

 

“This story is like a fairy tale, except its entirely true,” Morgan Freeman narrates in his usual dulcet tones and begins the tale of “two real-life fairy godmothers” and the animals they care for and have befriended. This documentary juxtaposes the stories of two women and their efforts to help orphaned animals and return them to the wild. Daphne Sheldrick and her team rescue elephants in Kenya, Africa while Birute Galdikas does the same for orangutans in Borneo, Asia.

 

“It took me 28 years to develop the right milk formula,” Sheldrick says to the audience and you marvel at the dedication and matronly role this woman has filled in protecting young elephants and reentering them into their rightful place in the wild.

 

“They need to retain their wildness,” Galdikas tells us of her orphaned orangutan charges.

 

Born to Be Wild is short but sweet. Scenes like an orangutan making mischief in a pantry and elephants playing soccer look great in IMAX 3D, plus they’re cute but never insufferably so.

 

This is a good film to take children to that is short and engaging enough for any age or attention span. It also has an honest message that even a child can recognize and be encouraged by. My daughter recommends it to “Young kids even old people maybe everyone!”