Pride (TV 2004)

The story of Suki, a lioness cub, who rebels against her mother and her Pride to mate with an unsuitable lion from the other side of the river. Her journey to less a comfortable environment... See full summary »

Director:

John Downer

Writer:

Simon Nye

Stars:

Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Rupert Graves

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Kate Winslet	...	Suki (voice)
Helen Mirren	...	Macheeba (voice)
Rupert Graves	...	Linus (voice)
Sean Bean	...	Dark (voice)
Martin Freeman	...	Fleck (voice)
Robbie Coltrane	...	James (voice)
Jim Broadbent	...	Eddie (voice)
John Hurt	...	Harry (voice)
Kwame Kwei-Armah	...	Lush (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Claire Bouanich	...	Suki enfant (French version) (voice)
Emmanuel Curtil	...	Fleck adulte (French version) (voice)
Alexandre Gillet	...	Linus adulte (French version) (voice)
Anne Jolivet	...	Macheeba (French version) (voice)
Jean-Pierre Marielle	...	James (French version) (voice)
Olivier Martret	...	Fleck enfant (French version) (voice)

Storyline

The story of Suki, a lioness cub, who rebels against her mother and her Pride to mate with an unsuitable lion from the other side of the river. Her journey to less a comfortable environment teaches her much. She re-crosses the river to defend her Pride from invading wanderers led by her former suitor.

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Plot Keywords:

river | lion | africa | lion cub | part live action | 

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Genres:

Family | Comedy | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

A&E

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 June 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Le clan des rois

Filming Locations:

Africa

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), John Downer Productions Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

After Fleck's mother is killed, he is referred to throughout the film as an orphan. In fact, one of the adult males in the pride would have been his father. He, Linus and the other young males would also have left the pride at sexual maturity, not stuck around and tried to mate with the lionesses (as Fleck tries to do with Suki), who would be their relatives.

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Quotes

Suki: I used to think I knew it all and then everything needed changing. Now I know the best thing is to contribute, to be part of a team. We're good at that, lions.

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Connections

Featured in Zomergasten: Episode #18.3 (2005)

User Reviews

The DVD 'making of' extra is even better than the movie!

'Pride' is a small, innocuous movie that tells a story much like animated 'The Lion King', but using real lions and computer animation of animal faces to make it appear that they really are talking. We see lots of shots of lion cubs romping and running through the grass, and exquisite close-ups of mature lions eating or reposing, and many times staring just a few inches away from the lens of the camera. How did they do this? The DVD extras tell a very interesting story, a story I found more interesting than the one told in the movie. However, I suspect that most children will really enjoy a movie where the animals appear to be really speaking.

STOP reading if you want to discover it fresh for yourself, but the following comments only address how the movie was filmed, NOT the actual story. Lions from two sources were used. First, tame lions in a preserve were filmed for many stock shots of running, jumping, crossing water on a fallen tree, things like that. Enticed with large pieces of meat at the end of a pole, the lions were very cooperative.

More inventive was the use of a 'boulder cam', a radio-controlled camera inside an enclosure shaped like a boulder, but on wheels. Controlled from a nearby truck, it could, and did, follow the lions into hunting and feeding sessions, into the midst of their den, even climbing large rock formations, for a total of 300 days. After initial curiosity, the lions accepted this 'boulder on wheels' as a part of their environment.

The extras also showed how computer techniques were used to make the lions change expressions and appear to speak.