Animals were harmed in these films
Sigourney Weaver portrays the naturalist Dian Fossey in 'Gorillas in the Mist,' which tells the story of her her work in Rwanda with mountain gorillas. In December 1985, Fossey was murdered, probably because of her lifelong crusade against poaching, but with no consensus as to who killed her.
This French movie directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud follows the adventures of an orphan bear cub who befriends an adult male grizzly. Danger lurks, however, in the form of two trophy hunters who pursue the animals through the wild.
Based on Jack London's classic 1906 novel of the same name, 'White Fang' is all about the friendship between a young Klondike gold prospector (Ethan Hawke) and a wolfdog.
'Born Free' is the story of Joy and George Adamson, who raised Elsa the lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood and released her into the wilderness of Kenya. The Adamsons were portrayed in the film by another real-life couple: Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers.
Ken Loach's acclaimed classic stars Dai Bradley as working-class lad Billy Casper, who steals a fledgling kestrel from its nest in the surrounding countryside and proceeds to train it in the art of falconry.
A young boy (Claude Jarman Jr.) persuades his parents to allow him to adopt a young deer. But the youngster is warned that the fawn will have to be set free as it grows up. Claude Jarman Jr. won a special Academy Juvenile Award for his portrayal of Jody. The unique accolade was discontinued in 1960.
A psychosomatically mute boy called Phillip Ransome (Mark Lester) befriends a wild pony on the Dartmoor moors in England. Lester was fresh from his success as Oliver in the hit musical 'Oliver!' (1968) and won further plaudits for his role as the youngster who sets out to tame the horse.
While the 'shark' you see most of in Steven Spielberg's thriller on the ocean is a mechanical beast called Bruce, footage is screened several times throughout the picture of a real great white shark.
Flipper is the name given to an injured wild dolphin by 12-year-old Sandy Ricks (Luke Halpin), whom he meets while swimming off the Florida Keys. The movie inspired the subsequent television series of the same name (1964–1967) and several film and TV sequels.
Australian actress Mia Wasikowska portrays author Robyn Davidson, who trekked 2,700 km (1,700 mi) across the deserts of Western Australia using camels. 'Tracks' is based on the writer's memoir of the same name.
Ang Lee's beautiful and surreal adaptation of Yann Martel's novel of the same name revolves around an Indian teenager named "Pi" Patel, who finds himself adrift on the Pacific Ocean after a shipwreck–and with just a Bengal tiger for company.
Also known as 'Spread Your Wings' and similar in theme to 1996's 'Fly Away Home,' this French drama directed by Nicolas Vanier is based on the real story of a visionary scientist called Christian and his teenage son who work together to save endangered dwarf geese by guiding them from his microlight to a less hazardous migratory route than the one the birds normally adopt.
Set in South Africa, 'Duma' follows the fortunes of a cheetah cub orphaned after its mother is killed and subsequently cared for by a young boy named Xan (Alexander Michaeletos).
Paul Walker chills out in this survival drama film as one of two polar explorers who in the face of brutal weather are reluctantly forced to leave behind their sled dog team in Antarctica as they struggle for survival.
A documentary film crew sail along the Amazon River in search of an enormous and legendary green anaconda. The snake in the movie is an animatronic lookalike, but this boa species found across South America is indeed the heaviest and one of the longest-known snakes in the world. Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, and Jon Voight are among the stars.
Loosely based on the life and racing career of thoroughbred race horse Seabiscuit, this sports drama starring Tobey Maguire tuned the spotlight back on the undersized and overlooked horse that became a top-earning media sensation in the 1940s.
Shot in 3D and inspired by the true story of Winter, a bottlenose dolphin that was rescued in 2005 off the Florida coast, 'Dolphin Tale' is a play on words given that the mammal in question was fitted with a prosthetic tail after loosing hers in a crab trap. The film follows the dolphin's rehabilitation and the people who care for her.
Based on the pioneering work of naturalist Bill Lishman, who started training Canada geese to follow his ultralight aircraft to the safety of a bird sanctuary, 'Fly Away Home' stars Anna Paquin (pictured), Jeff Daniels, and Dana Delany.
A group of plane crash survivors in Alaska must not only endure sub-zero temperatures, but have to fend off the unwanted attention of a pack of Canadian gray wolves. Liam Neeson is among those desperately hoping not to become a packed lunch.
Set in prehistory, Keda (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a young hunter lost in the wilderness, encounters and befriends an injured wolf during the last ice age, whom he calls Alpha. Their unlikely friendship endures danger and hardship as Keda searches for his kin.
'Willard' collects the themes explored in the 1971 film of the same name and 'Ben' (1972), but with a stronger focus on suspense. In this movie, Willard Stiles (Crispin Glover) uses the rodents at his own sociopathic will.
A boatload of whalers get more than they signed up for when their vessel is attacked and sunk by an enormous and vengeful whale. The film is based on the real-life sinking of the American whaling ship Essex by a sperm whale in 1820.
This time it's a killer whale, a male orca, that's out for revenge after its mate and her unborn calf are killed by a ship's captain, who earns an unscrupulous living catching marine animals in order to pay off the mortgage on his boat.
Tag is a fox cub rescued and adopted by a huntsman named Asher (Eric Porter). Far smarter than the dogs that try to hunt him down, Tag eventually comes into conflict with the very person that saved him in the first place.
Sources: (History) (Britannica) (The Washington Post)
Tom Booker (Robert Redford) has a remarkable gift for understanding horses, and his affinity with the beasts is called upon by the parents of an injured teenager and her equally traumatized horse, Pilgrim.
Clever farm pig Babe wants to work as a sheepdog and learns to do so with a little help from farmer Arthur Hoggett, played by James Cromwell.
'Ben' is the sequel to 'Willard' (1971), a horror drama about a meek social misfit called Willard Stiles who develops an affinity for rats. In the follow-up it's Danny Garrison (Lee Montgomery) who befriends Ben, the leader of the colony of rats trained by his late predecessor. The theme song, 'Ben,' was performed by Michael Jackson, and spent one week at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
Hundreds of snakes are released on an airliner in an attempt to kill a trial witness traveling as a passenger. FBI agent Neville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson), assigned to protect the witness en route, instead finds himself fending off angry serpents.
Based on the true story of the so-called Tsavo man-eaters, a pair of male lions that terrorized workers in Kenya during the building of the Uganda-Mombasa Railway in East Africa in 1898, 'The Ghost and the Darkness' stars Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer as the hunters assigned to track down and kill the errant big cats.
'The Edge' pits three plane crash survivors, including Charles Morse (Anthony Hopkins) and Bob Green (Alec Baldwin), against a large and aggressive Kodiak bear as the trio seek a way out of the Alaskan wilderness.
Movies with a wildlife theme are often set in the toughest of locations: in the deepest jungles, a freezing wilderness, or a hot, dry desert. But some of the most endearing films featuring animals have been made far closer to home, in bucolic countrysides for example, or even in an urban environment. Either way, if you're someone who prefers to admire the wild from a cinema seat or the comfort of their own home, then the following films are for you.
Click through and take a look at the movies that star animals.
Movies with a wildlife theme
Wildlife Week is here!
MOVIES Animals
Movies with a wildlife theme are often set in the toughest of locations: in the deepest jungles, a freezing wilderness, or a hot, dry desert. But some of the most endearing films featuring animals have been made far closer to home, in bucolic countrysides for example, or even in an urban environment. Either way, if you're someone who prefers to admire the wild from a cinema seat or the comfort of their own home, then the following films are for you.
Click through and take a look at the movies that star animals.