Elephant

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Elephant is a brand new nature documentary streaming on Disney+; here are 10 reasons you should watch.

10. It’s family friendly viewing.

9. It’s a documentary so it practically counts as home schooling where you don’t have to do any of the work. Don’t worry, teachers do it ALL THE TIME.

8. Disney does a good job of making the story engaging. It’s not just passive viewing. They give us characters to root for and a narrative to follow.

7. The herd of African elephants we follow is led by a matriarch Gaia and her sister Shani, so there are strong female characters aplenty.

6. Shani has a playful young son called Joao, and honestly, he’s exactly the kind of happy, carefree vibes we need right now.

5. The photography is top-notch, the crew follows (in fact, gets ahead of) the herd for an entire year’s journey, and they cover a lot of ground.

4. Though this isn’t exactly full of facts and figures, it does give a great overview of African elephants, as well as a wonderful sense of the environment.

3. It’s wonderful to see elephants in their natural habitat – it’s sometimes perilous of course, but it’s also amazing to see them at work, at play, at rest, and at work.

2. Elephants have a strong family bond that’s inspiring and fascinating to witness.

1. It’s narrated by real-life princess Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex in her first role since marrying into the royal family (and likely the last under this title; she and Harry give them up at the end of this month).

10 thoughts on “Elephant”

  5. librepaley

    One to look out for with the family – provided it’s sticking to documentary principles of recording reality and not interfering with the nature it documents.

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  7. Nanaof11

    I was good on the review, you even stated it wasn’t quite factual. Which is true. However, you made a slight blunder yourself, Meghan is not a Princess, she was never given the title by the Queen. She is a Duchess. Also, one who can no longer legally use that title on anything for monetary value.

    The problem I have with the Documentary is they only named three elephants in the herd? They were a team, working together, on a dangerous journey. The others on this journey I felt needed acknowledgement. It felt a little lopsided in my opinion. This documentary could have used more factual information, more inclusion and interaction of the others in the herd and a bit more excitement. All this could have been done by pointing out and naming the rest of the herd. It left me not wanting to rewatch it or even encourage anyone else too. I felt Disney let us down on this one.

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    1. Jay Post author

      I didn’t make a blunder, I made a choice to use a word that is more engaging and interesting. And in fact, she and Harry can use their titles until the end of this month, which is why it’s on the posters for the movie.

      I disagree about naming all the elephants. I think any movie, real or fiction, people or movies, needs to narrow its focus in order to tell an engaging story. Humans cannot care about too big a group at once. Our empathy extends more naturally toward one, which is why people are more likely to donate to a single child or family rather than to all the poor in Africa. When the scope is too large, our empathy is too thin and we lose interest. Kids, of course, who are Disney’s primary target, need this even more. So focusing on a young elephant who is playful like they are, and some times disobeys mum like they do, is relatable and fun.

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