Two Brothers

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Two Brothers ★★½ 2004 (PG)

Kiddy fare about tiger brothers whose happy cubhood is shattered by the intrusion of Man. Great White Hunter (Pearce) guns down their father, and the cubs are snatched away into captivity. One cub is bought by a cruel circus owner (Scarito); the other becomes a child's (Highmore) pet. Neither can be tamed though, and circumstances reunite them with predictably tender results. Set in Indochina in the 1920s, with gorgeous backdrops of crumbling temples and lush jungles. The tigers are great, but human characters are exaggerated and unbelievable. Director Annaud shows great talent working with animals, as in previous work, “The Bear.” Perhaps next time he'll leave out the humans. 109m/C VHS, DVD . FR GB Guy Pearce, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Freddie Highmore, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Moussa Maaskri, Vincent Scarito, Mai Anh Le, Oanh Nguyen, Stephanie Lagarde; D: Jean-Jacques Annaud; W: Jean-Jacques Annaud; C: Jean-Marie Dreujou; M: Stephen Warbeck.