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The Last Lions

Play trailer Poster for The Last Lions PG 2011 1h 28m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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86% Tomatometer 37 Reviews 88% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
When a rival pride attacks and kills her mate, lioness Ma di Tau faces an arduous battle to preserve the lives of herself and her three cubs. She knows the conquering lions will kill her offspring if they are found, so she leads them to Duba Island. There, she and her cubs face additional danger from the hungry crocodiles and the fierce water buffalo.

Critics Reviews

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Dennis Harvey Variety 04/04/2011
Gripping. Go to Full Review
Andrea Gronvall Chicago Reader 03/18/2011
Many of the sequences are intense, like those in which the lioness refines its hunting strategies in unfamiliar territory. But they're undercut by Jeremy Irons's sonorous narration. Go to Full Review
Marjorie Baumgarten Austin Chronicle 03/18/2011
3/5
This nature documentary about the vanishing lions of Africa is not your children's Lion King. Go to Full Review
Jay Antani Cinema Writer 01/27/2012
3.5/4
an extraordinary achievement Go to Full Review
Robert W. Butler Kansas City Star 04/04/2011
3/4
There's some heartbreaking stuff here but also moments of triumph. Not to mention visuals that will leave audiences breathless. Go to Full Review
Justin Strout Orlando Weekly 03/31/2011
4/5
It's uplifting, but also raw and brutal. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Felix Garza M 09/20/2022 One of the best documentaries on wildlife. Jeremy Irons does an excellent job at narrating the documentary. It is structured on an interpretation of what likely is perceived based on primal instincts & behavior. Surreal how animal behavior and actions are alike to that of our own. Only David Attenborough legendary life's wildlife experiences can surpass this documentary. See more 11/09/2021 The Last Lions is a contrived documentary film, edited to appear more like an animal reality television show, unnecessarily and inaccurately personifies animals. NatGeo's inclusion of a realistic scene in which the lioness abandons her badly injured cub, leaving it to die a slow and painful death, stands against its earlier attempts to convince us these wild animals are loveable and tame. The irony of the narration by Jeremy Irons, who scars me with his monotone, wasn't lost on me. At the end of The Last Lions, Scar's words to Simba echo clearly: "run away and never return." #foursentenceratings See more 04/10/2021 Beautiful and heartbreaking. See more 08/13/2017 Great nature movie. One of the best lion films ever. Lion King, The ghost in the Darkness then The Last Lions. See more 07/05/2016 Wonderfully shot documentary about a lioness and her determination that both she and her cubs will survive the cruel wilds of Botswana. Grade:B+ See more 02/18/2014 How fitting for Jeremy Irons (Scar from Lion King) to narrate majestically a magnificent, violent and tear jerking story of Ma di Tau "Mother of all lions" See more Read all reviews
The Last Lions

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Movie Info

Synopsis When a rival pride attacks and kills her mate, lioness Ma di Tau faces an arduous battle to preserve the lives of herself and her three cubs. She knows the conquering lions will kill her offspring if they are found, so she leads them to Duba Island. There, she and her cubs face additional danger from the hungry crocodiles and the fierce water buffalo.
Director
Dereck Joubert
Distributor
National Geographic
Production Co
Wildfire Films, NGE
Rating
PG (Violent Images Inv. Animal Lfe)
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 18, 2011, Limited
Release Date (DVD)
Jan 3, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA)
$631.9K
Runtime
1h 28m