Two Brothers

Annaud presents a meticulously structured fable about the importance of family, particularly the relationship of fathers and sons, to both man and beast.

Only the tigers, beautiful and dangerous, maintain their integrity. By staying true to themselves, they make nothing else matter.

The kind of movie that kids used to flock to on Saturday afternoons in the forties and fifties.

Combo of some stunning animal direction (courtesy of ace trainer Thierry Le Portier) and exotic period setting somewhere in French colonial Indochina charms when the quadripeds stalk the action but creaks when the bipeds open their mouths.

The movie's ''bless the beasts and the children'' moralizing is simplistic and skews a wee bit too young, but it's hard to fault a film whose greatest vice is sentimentalizing an animal humans have pushed almost to the brink of extinction.

The result is schizophrenic, an uplifting film that's truly depressing, a movie about cruelty that tries to be fluffy.

The story, which features an apparently lobotomized Guy Pearce as an opportunistic explorer and hunter who learns the errors of his ways, is deeply dull.

Two brothers will have a very simple story but manages to make us reflect on the cruelty of men and helping each other how they will tackle the barriers.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]