AFRICAN CATS / OCEANS

“AFRICAN CATS” / “OCEANS”

Saw these within a few days of each other and I felt a comparison was needed. Going into these two nature/documentary films, I had a much higher interest in ‘Oceans’.
(Not a cat person, you understand) But ‘African Cats’ is unquestionably the better film.

Probably because ‘Cats’ focuses on one central location and tells the ‘story’ of two prides of lions and a cheetah mother trying to raise and protect her cubs and ‘Oceans’ has no story. They simply show you footage of underwater creatures from all 5 oceans, tell you their names & then move on to the next creature. No interesting commentary on their lives and how they survive in the deep, just “this is a weird looking fish and here it is eating another weird looking fish” (or being eaten by...)

I am a wimp when it comes to watching something being killed and eaten. I was able to foresee scenes that were going to make me sick to my stomach in both films and closed my eyes at the appropriate times. I did see a large group of lions feasting on a fallen zebra, but by the time I looked up you could hardly tell what the beasts were devouring.

So I recommend ‘African Cats’ even if your not a cat person – though I did scoff, “What a pussy!” when Fang ran away from danger. It takes the time to let you know these animals, and yes, the slow motion footage of a running cheetah is impressive to see -
though I also would have liked to have seen more actual speed chases. You root for the moms and you boo the (bleep) out of those (bleep)ing hyenas – that’s one creature I wouldn’t mind seeing become extinct – the little a—holes. Oh, sorry, forgot this is a kid’s movie!
In the end you come to understand there’s an order that needs to be maintained as distasteful as it is to view or learn that a cub has been killed or a daughter that just lost it’s mother is not being accepted back into the ‘tribe’.

‘Oceans’ is only interesting from a viewing viewpoint. You see lots of strange looking creatures – you see lots of creatures killing and eating smaller creatures (Unless you close your eyes & count to ten) – and you learn next to nothing about any of them.
It would have been a better idea to do a series of 5 films, taking time to show & teach us about the creatures that inhabit the world’s oceans.