Bonnie and Sam are teenagers in a plane flying across a mountainous wilderness (we're never told exactly where, but the mountains are too high to be in the eastern U.S.). The plane goes down and the adults in the plane appear to be dead, so they are left on their own until an old Indian finds them and offers to help them get back to civilization. He says they will need his help because of the bad men. It turns out there are poachers in the area, and the teens would have been in trouble without him. The kids offer to find help, once rescued, to do something about the poachers, but the Indian does not want help (we later learn one reason why this might be true). The Indian teaches the kids a lot about getting along in the wilderness, and rescues them from several dangerous situations (they also get to rescue him once or twice). We also learn that the teens are brother and sister, and that they lost their father. Their mother has remarried, and Bonnie in particular doesn't like their stepfather. Among other things, the Indian teaches the kids that they still have their father inside. Later, the Indian goes back to the plane without the kids, fearing that the people searching for the kids will encounter the poachers.
This was pretty good though it may not be a classic. August Schellenberg gave a fine performance as the Indian, though he talked like Tonto and that may offend some people (I assume this reflects a lack of contact with white people, since the Indian seems very intelligent). And I've liked Kirsten Dunst ever since she was a little girl in 'Little Women'; she didn't disappoint here. The scenery is magnificent, and wildlife shots quite good. The credits say nothing about animatronic bears but assure us animal action was carefully monitored so that no actual harm came to the bears. Some good work, then, was done with those bears. And the music was quite distinctive: nearly all of it sounded Native American or close to it, with some really good vocal performances in what sounded like Indian languages (there was even one song with children). Speaking of children, the youngest ones probably shouldn't see this. Among the reasons: the plane crash itself is quite scary, and there are several scenes where the poachers fire shots at people who they believe might be interfering with them (when the Indian is around, he fired back using arrows, but no one appeared seriously injured). The poachers threaten the children with guns when the Indian isn't around, and there are the usual scenes with one or both teens in danger. Also, one of the bears steps into a painful trap, gets taunted by the poachers, and is finally shot. The extent of the injuries to the poachers involved is not quite clear, but the other bear attacks several poachers. This was an edited version I saw, but there were still a few curse words (nothing too major). SPOILER: Also, one of the poachers is apparently killed by a bullet.
This was pretty good though it may not be a classic. August Schellenberg gave a fine performance as the Indian, though he talked like Tonto and that may offend some people (I assume this reflects a lack of contact with white people, since the Indian seems very intelligent). And I've liked Kirsten Dunst ever since she was a little girl in 'Little Women'; she didn't disappoint here. The scenery is magnificent, and wildlife shots quite good. The credits say nothing about animatronic bears but assure us animal action was carefully monitored so that no actual harm came to the bears. Some good work, then, was done with those bears. And the music was quite distinctive: nearly all of it sounded Native American or close to it, with some really good vocal performances in what sounded like Indian languages (there was even one song with children). Speaking of children, the youngest ones probably shouldn't see this. Among the reasons: the plane crash itself is quite scary, and there are several scenes where the poachers fire shots at people who they believe might be interfering with them (when the Indian is around, he fired back using arrows, but no one appeared seriously injured). The poachers threaten the children with guns when the Indian isn't around, and there are the usual scenes with one or both teens in danger. Also, one of the bears steps into a painful trap, gets taunted by the poachers, and is finally shot. The extent of the injuries to the poachers involved is not quite clear, but the other bear attacks several poachers. This was an edited version I saw, but there were still a few curse words (nothing too major). SPOILER: Also, one of the poachers is apparently killed by a bullet.