Thierry LePortier Movies

Like The Bear, director Jean-Jacques Annaud's acclaimed animal picture released 15 years prior, Two Brothers offers a family-friendly epic as told through the eyes of its four-legged protagonists, who, in this case, are sibling tiger cubs Koumal and Sangha. Though a life in the jungles of French colonial Indochina circa the 1920s seemed certain, the cubs are separated shortly after their birth when the notorious hunter Aidan McRory (Guy Pearce) kills their father. Koumal is whisked away to a circus, where he is cruelly beaten into submission and forced to perform tricks to earn his keep. Sangha fares better at first -- he lands in the posh estate of a French government official who wants the big cat to serve as a companion for his lonely son, though a series of unforeseen circumstances ultimately finds Sangha in the hands of a man determined to turn him into an aggressive prizefighter. Understandably, neither tiger is happy with his arrangements, and both escape captivity in hopes of returning to the jungle. Unfortunately for them, the prospect of two loose tigers is hardly comforting for the locals, who quickly demand that McRory kill the cubs before they threaten the safety of the village. Once McRory finds the tigers in their natural habitat, however, he faces a crisis of conscience he hadn't thought possible. Two Brothers also features Jean-Claude Dreyfus and Freddie Highmore. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

French legend has it that a creature known as the Beast of Gevaudan -- a huge, wolf-like monster -- was responsible for the violent deaths of over 100 persons in the mid-18th century, and this horror fantasy blends the lore of this fabled beast with a story of two men who set out to capture it. After a number of mutilated corpses begin appearing across the French countryside, naturalist Chevalier Gregoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) is dispatched by the King to find and capture the animal responsible for the killings. Mani (Mark Dacascos), an Indian from Canada and an experienced hand in the wilds, is hired to assist de Fronsac in his work. Gregoire's assignment earns him the acquaintance of Marianne de Morangias (Emilie Dequenne), the lovely daughter of the idly wealthy Count de Morangias (Jean Yanne), but Gregoire receives a much chillier welcome from her brother Jean-Francois (Vincent Cassel), who, despite having lost an arm to a lion in Africa, is quite the huntsman himself. As Gregoire and Mani arrive in the village of Gevaudan, they're drawn to a local house of prostitution, where the animalistic allure and supernatural powers of Sylvia (Monica Bellucci) prove to have a profound effect on the naive Gregoire. Jim Henson's Creature Shop provided the special-effects expertise for the creation of the Beast of Gevaudan. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This French family-oriented adventure is set in the Cameroons and Zimbabwe and follows the exploits of a 12-year-old French boy who, following the death of his mother, is sent to Africa to live with his father, the overseer of a large game preserve. The boy, Martin, has not seen his father since he was two. Martin's arrival doesn't make much impact upon his father, Garoubier, who is too busy with his work to pay attention or show affection to the grieving lad. He is sent to school where he is the only white, but soon makes friends with a native boy, Fofana, whose stepfather leads his village and is called the elephant master. One day, Fofana suddenly disappears and during the search, Martin and his dad finally begin to get a little closer. Later Fofana and Martin team up and set out on their own to locate a missing herd of elephants. Trouble follows and adventure ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi