Some nice moments here, but this is a film that looks like a kids' TV featurette from an earlier age.
- Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK], April 26, 2012
Hats off to the camera operators who have captured some astonishing wildlife imagery.
- Derek Adams, Time Out, December 22, 2011
- , Empire Magazine, October 21, 2011
It's beautiful to behold, but too fluffy to broaden younger minds.
- Olly Richards, Empire Magazine, October 18, 2011
Anyone with a fondness for bambinos of any species should melt at the sight of mamas with nuzzling cubs.
- Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle, April 22, 2011
Not coincidentally, African Cats opens on Earth Day. Meeting these magnificent fellow creatures might be a fine way to celebrate.
- Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly, April 22, 2011
"African Cats" prefers less preaching and more heartstring-tugging. It works, of course, especially if you're trying to raise your own cubs to adulthood.
- Sandie Angulo Chen, Washington Post, April 22, 2011
No doubt, life is tough in the wild but, this being a Disney flick, it's loving too and even comes with a kiddie-friendly narrative that's easy to summarize and hard to dispute.
- Rick Groen, Globe and Mail, April 22, 2011
Kids will love "African Cats," which is full of "aw" moments. Their parents will appreciate that narrator Samuel L. Jackson keeps things from getting too schmaltzy in this true-life depiction of the circle of life.
- Lou Lumenick, New York Post, April 22, 2011
"African Cats," while often adorable and at times gripping, is more of a TV-ready experience.
- Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News, April 22, 2011
The photography is so spectacular that the accompanying Disney-ization of wildlife is forgiven.
- Claudia Puig, USA Today, April 21, 2011
A visually and aurally stunning film that brings viewers up close and very personal with several "big cat" families - as well as a dazzling array of other safari-esque species - living in Kenya's sprawling Masai Mara National Reserve.
- Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times, April 21, 2011
There are surely eight million stories on the naked plains, but "African Cats" tells one: about lions and cheetahs and - oh, Bambi! - the power of mother love.
- Rachel Saltz, New York Times, April 21, 2011
It's deeply involving and primally moving.
- Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 21, 2011
Under the direction of BBC wildlife documentary alums Keith Scholey and Alastair Fothergill, "Cats'' looks majestic throughout, even if its Big Stories are sometimes forced at the expense of fleeting, fascinating little details.
- Tom Russo, Boston Globe, April 21, 2011
It's a solid hour and a half of intense stuff you don't see every day.
- Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies, April 21, 2011
Far too often, African Cats feels episodic in its structure. Rather than featuring a driving, compelling narrative, it's: cheetah vs. gazelle. And then: hyena vs. cheetah. And then: lion vs. crocodile. Who will win???
- Christy Lemire, Associated Press, April 20, 2011
Imagine ten Shirley Temples singing "Animal Crackers in My Soup" while pawing at rainbow-colored balls of yarn.
- Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York, April 21, 2011
Of course the photography is second to none - no sense of hidden cameras here, more a feeling of cranes and on-set catering.
- Antonia Quirke, Financial Times, April 26, 2012
An attempt the dramatise the animal world which just feels cheap and unworkable. A drag.
- David Jenkins, Little White Lies, April 26, 2012
