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The Elephant Queen

Play trailer 1:31 Poster for The Elephant Queen PG Released Oct 18, 2019 1h 36m Documentary Adventure Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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91% Tomatometer 22 Reviews 88% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
A journey of family, courage, and coming home; joining Athena, the majestic matriarch, as she leads her elephant herd across an unforgiving African landscape filled with vibrant wildlife.
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The Elephant Queen

The Elephant Queen

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Critics Consensus

Informative, compassionate, and beautifully filmed, The Elephant Queen should satisfy nature documentary lovers of all ages.

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Critics Reviews

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Alissa Wilkinson Vox The result is a nice story about elephants but not much more, making The Elephant Queen feel a bit like a squandered opportunity. Rated: 2.5/5 Nov 1, 2019 Full Review Allison Keene Paste Magazine The Elephant Queen is messy, but it's still a worthwhile nature watch that educates viewers on how important elephants are to the biomes across which they traverse and why. Rated: 8/10 Oct 29, 2019 Full Review David Ehrlich indieWire A cute story about the circle of life. Rated: B Oct 18, 2019 Full Review Fausto Ponce Proceso The documentary The Elephant Queen... is an emotional story about survival that shows us the wonderful mechanisms that operate in nature. [Full Review in Spanish] Jun 17, 2020 Full Review Louis Proyect Counterpunch.org Despite some Disney-style anthropomorphizing, this is a transcendent story of how African elephants cope with a drought. The subtitle might have been "Ecology of a Waterhole", Nov 5, 2019 Full Review Petrana Radulovic Polygon The best moments of The Elephant Queen come from when the elephants' actions on their own stir the heartstrings, complex emotions beaming off screen without anyone uttering a single word. Nov 1, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (17) audience reviews
Eugene P Stunning photography and beautiful story. Nature at its finest. (Keep a tissue handy) Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/06/23 Full Review Audience Member The greatest 01 hour: and 36 minutes of real elephant footage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member This was a story of roller coaster of emotions! visually absolutely gorgeous! Would always enjoy seeing Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member The cinematography was good but I thought the film was spoiled by the excessive anthropomorphism, which had the effect of turning it into a children's movie. Surely Attenborough has shown conclusively that you do not need to talk to children to be compelling even to children. The contrivance of the last duckling being "Stephen," and then spinning a story about Stephen in every clip of a lone duck(ling) hurrying somewhere, was just silly. I noticed some clips were not in sequence either. There was one scene of newborn ducklings cut into a sequence where they were meant to be several weeks (?) old. There was little information; we did not even know where the family of elephants was. The film got weaker and weaker in my view. I love the African wilderness and nature movies, so this was a disappointment. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member An incredible story of love and determination. The elephants and their supporting characters will charm you and your children. A family movie if ever there was one. Deserving of the highest possible accolades! A must see! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Couldn't control the tears, and I NEVER cry. Moving documentary, stunning cinematography, can't praise the filmmakers enough for this touching, informative and fascinating look at the journey these beautiful animals go through. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Elephant Queen

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis A journey of family, courage, and coming home; joining Athena, the majestic matriarch, as she leads her elephant herd across an unforgiving African landscape filled with vibrant wildlife.
Director
Mark Deeble, Victoria Stone
Producer
Victoria Stone, Lucinda Englehart
Screenwriter
Mark Deeble
Distributor
Apple, A24
Production Co
Deeble & Stone
Rating
PG (Some Thematic Material)
Genre
Documentary, Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Original Language
British English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 18, 2019, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 4, 2019
Runtime
1h 36m
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