MOVIE NEWS: Born to Be Wild 3D

Editor’s note: we interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for a word from OWL assistant editor Kendra Brown. (Craig will be back next week.) Enjoy!

Hey, do you love baby animals? Of course you do. I mean, who doesn’t love baby animals!

Born to Be Wild 3D opens in IMAX theatres today. And, yes, it’s about baby animals. Baby elephants and orangutans, to be exact. And yes, they are incredibly cute. Unfortunately, the animals featured in the film are orphans. One way or another, they have all lost their mothers. But — before you get too sad — this film is also about the people who rescue these orphaned animals, raise them, and eventually, return them to their homes in the wild.

The film is a documentary and is narrated by actor Morgan Freeman, whose voice you may remember from March of the Penguins. In the film, we are introduced to Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas, a scientist, environmentalist, and educator who has studied orangutans in Southeast Asia for over 40 years. We also meet animal expert and wildlife conservationist Dame Daphne Sheldrick, who has been raising orphaned elephants in Kenya, Africa, for over 30 years.

Here are five fun facts about this film and the amazing animals and people in it:

1) The idea for the film began almost 20 years ago. That’s when writer and producer Drew Fellman went on a trip to Southeast Asia and met Dr. Galdikas — and the orangutans — for the first time.

2) The IMAX camera team developed a brand new camera to shoot the documentary. The lighter, quieter camera allowed the filmmakers to get up close and personal with the wild animals in ways they never had been able to before.

3) Orangutans are one of our closest living relatives. In fact, they share about 97 percent of our genetic material. The word “orangutan” even means “person of the forest” in Malay, a language spoken in Borneo and Sumatra, where these great apes live.

4) The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which Dame Daphne started in the late 1970s, has helped to rescue over 130 elephant orphans.

5) It’s a really big job to care for the animals. Like, really big. And not just in terms of time, effort, and money. It’s also a huge job emotionally. But luckily, Dr. Galdikas and Dame Daphne have huge hearts and a big team of people to help get the job done.

Overall, I loved this movie. Although it was sad to see so many orphaned animals, it was just as wonderful to see them being rescued, raised, and released back into the wild by some really remarkable people. Dr. Galdikas and Dame Daphne, in particular, are amazing women.

Plus, there are some really cute, funny scenes in the film. Like, for example, a herd of elephants playing soccer with their trainers. And, just like baby animals, what’s not to love about that?

To find out if Born to Be Wild 3D is playing at an IMAX theatre near you, check the official website.

Kendra, owlblog@owlkids.com