The Last Lions 2011

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: A gorgeous looking film filled with the sort of footage one can only get with patience and persistence. Read more

New York Times: One of the most urgent and certainly among the most beautifully shot documentaries to hit the big screen in recent memory. Read more

Nick Schager, Time Out: This evocative National Geographic production proves to be both an inquisitive nature documentary and an activist call to arms. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: One thing is certain about Dereck Joubert's documentary account of Africa's dwindling lion population. The cinematography-by the writer-director-is seldom less than stunning. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: No matter how you feel about real-life drama being shaped and enhanced in the editing room, this is wildlife storytelling at its formidable finest. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: An astonishing visual experience and at times almost profoundly suspenseful. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: 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. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: A great way to go on a safari without ever leaving the multiplex. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Wrenching and wondrous, Dereck and Beverly Joubert's documentary The Last Lions is not a tale for the faint-hearted. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The footage, by Dereck and Beverly Joubert, is stunning. Read more

Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter: There's real grrrrrrl power in this haunting portrait of an African lioness. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: All those years of filming have given the Jouberts a ringside seat on the lives of the lions they've observed, but the effort of squeezing all that footage into an 88-minute film that nominally covers roughly a year's time has had its consequences. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Portentous narration by Jeremy Irons tries to fill up the dead spots, but the script is too fond of feline mind reading and philosophizing about the cruel grandeur of it all. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: One of the most urgent and certainly among the most beautifully shot documentaries to hit the big screen in recent memory Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: It's all very melodramatic, but the Jouberts accompany this story with incredible visuals, with an exceptional level of access. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: While "The Last Lions" lacks the visceral excitement of some other survival dramas, it has anthropomorphic heart to spare. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Gripping. Read more

Nicolas Rapold, Village Voice: Doubling as cinematographer, Dereck Joubert skillfully integrates slow-motion and creates a rich sense of space with godlike long shots. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: While jaw-dropping footage of the animals of the African bush is a remarkable aspect of "The Last Lions," more impressive still is the strong narrative thread that runs through the nature documentary. Read more