Critic Reviews

Finnigan takes a fairly traditional approach while also managing to find sly moments that marry form and function. Despite the use of talking-head style interviews and narration, he balances the expected with poignancy unearthed in the unspoken subtext.

For a tightly edited documentary, it packed in a lot of information and built up a sense of jeopardy as the team had to overcome various obstacles: building a crate that could hold a five-ton elephant (the first one they made ended up in pieces) and coaxing Kaavan into it were no small tasks.

It is the breeziest, most impactful thing I’ve watched this week, an easy, casual viewing that manages to strike you right in the heart. Watch it! It’s nice.

“Cher and the Loneliest Elephant,” which runs a breezy 46 minutes, not only tells Kaavan’s story, but highlights the abuses many animals suffer in captivity, as well as the international animal rights organizations trying to save them.

It has a bare-bones, home-movie quality, with interviews that feel as if they were shot on the run. But its 46 minutes fly by, and it is buoyed by the disarming, slightly corny sincerity that Cher brings to the proceedings.