Malika the Lion Queen (2021 TV Special) User Reviews

good visuals

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 6 April 2021]

It's a pride of lions in South Africa's Kruger National Park. It follows the life of Malika (Angela Bassett) from a cub to the best hunter of the group while the head male lead has turnovers.

I love the animals and the nature action visuals. I can do less with the narration. I'm not so enamored with giving a human voice to animals. It doesn't always fit. When the narration is talking about the animals, there is a respectable distance that isn't trying to put words into these creatures' mouths. This movie is giving these creatures human concepts and understanding. Also Angela Bassett is acting too much. I'm not saying that it's impossible for this to be the truth. I just don't want to impose something onto these creatures. This would be better with a more traditional narration.

Refreshing, engaging, and critical

[nclturner · 8/10 · 10 April 2021]

This movie is a refreshing take on a classic tale. Instead of focusing on the "King of the Jungle", it focuses on the life journey of a lioness in South Africa and highlights the important role she and her female family members play in keeping their pride strong while maintaining balance within the ecosystem.

I have seen reviews criticizing the movie for adding a human voice, and thereby human assumptions, to what the main character may be thinking and feeling. However, I feel the producers were aiming to make a film that was educational, engaging for people of all ages, and empowering for girls and young women! Likewise, I have seen some folks claiming that the film "bashes men" and promotes feminism. To this, I would respond by saying I believe the second half of the statement is true and the movie simply shares facts (some of which may indeed paint males in an unflattering way, but are still true). I feel it is trying to promote some critical thinking about society in general, using lions as the messengers.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this movie! It may be a little graphic for young children, as it shows realistic hunting scenes, but I think it could start some great conversations when watched with an adult.

Wish it kept going

[spooniediva-51002 · 9/10 · 8 April 2021]

I had to write a review after seeing the only ones were from men made insecure by Angela Bassett. I have watched 911 from the beginning so her voice tends to make me emotional from the start and add in animals and I'm a mess lol. More than anything, this is a testament to the strength of the animals that survive in Africa. The food chain is harsh from a human perspective but as it says in the show, it's not good or bad, it's survival.

If you're an animal lover, this is difficult to watch for the most part. I hope I'm able to warn someone else to be prepared to cry. There's a part near the beginning that took real objectivity on the film crews part. I don't know if I could have continued after witnessing what a pack of hyenas did. If you need a good cry, go for it, it redeems itself in many ways. I hope they're still filming that pride because now I'm invested and I want to know what becomes of Malika and her family, even though it will most likely make me cry again, it will be worth it. Seeing the reality these beautiful creatures exist within will definitely make you appreciate things and see the animals that survive there in a new light.

Angela did a great job with the narration and the film crew managed to capture so much while seemingly stay out of the way.

Wonderful documentary

[pjn-88685 · 10/10 · 19 April 2021]

Malika the Lion Queen is a wonderful documentary. My female German shepherd sat next to me and we watched it together. I was amazed at her determination and unwavering fixation with this documentary especially when the lions hunt at night. Perhaps the grey and white images at night were easier to make out. The female lions are definitely great hunters. Highly recommended documentary if you love Lions like I do.

I'm sorry to see so many bad reviews! :(

[poo_cat · 10/10 · 7 June 2021]

I dvr's this back at Easter-time, and watched it today.. I watched it not as a documentary, but as a movie about a lion and her life.. I liked it very much! I do not ever like scenes where there's a predator/prey hunt in nature (I know it happens, I just feel awful seeing it) so I just kind of covered up for those parts, but other than that I rooted for Malika.. you could tell it was a "female-empowerment" themed watch, but I just watched it for the movie about a life that it was, and both cried and enjoyed it..

Wokeness Comes to Nature Shows

[JERIC0777 · 3/10 · 6 April 2021]

Interesting story, but seems as much about belittling the male gender than about nature. While it's true that female lions do the hunting, the show uses this as an excuse to make negative blanket statements about males in general.

Also, I realize they've made a story out of footage of a lion pride from one female's point of view, but I found the narration irritating at times for being so presumptuous as to what the lions are thinking. It made me miss nature shows where the narrator simply narrated observations about the animals. We can all make assumptions about what an animal is thinking or feeling, and on the surface many are probably accurate in this show such as longing for touch or being hungry since we can surmise that from mere observation. However, I'm going to go on a limb and say that I doubt female lions list "fighting the patriarchy" high on their priority list, which seems to be the main message presented here. I am a female, in case that matters, and am so tired of entertainment coming with an agenda.

In conclusion, beautiful footage, but ripe with the divisive brainwashing so prevalent in entertainment today, unfortunately.

Thoroughly enjoyable and true

[sue_heim · 10/10 · 12 June 2021]

Interesting to read the reviews slamming this as "woke." Maybe learn about what a lions' pride is all about. Lionesses are the queens of the pride. Males have their place and, as stated, patrol to protect. They will also join a hunt but sometimes stay back and don't participate unless their strength and size are needed to help bring down larger prey.

The females, though, ARE the heart of the pride. Lions are the only cats with a social community and prizes can range from small to dozens. Within a pride, those females far outnumber the males. Young males must leave and go find their own territory as they mature.

So before you whinge about "oh gee another female empowerment drivel story," stop and realize... This is an actual female empowerment story from the dawn of time. And grow up, wake up, and learn something.

(Yes I hate to anthropomorphize an animal, but lions do communicate their feelings within a pride. They show affection, grief, fear, joy...)

This was truly an enjoyable movie. I would like to see future installments and follow the pride as they continue. Did they survive and thrive under new males? Are they part of the Sabi Sands prides or any of the prides in the Ngala region? Which males joined Malika and her mother and aunties? (I'm sure this was filmed over several years, and filming during 2020 would have been almost impossible.)

woke feminist agenda on nature

[grandequisitor · 2/10 · 21 April 2021]

There is no escape from the incessant need to rewrite everything as a feminist triumph. First, every nature show must now be narrated by a female of colour. Next there must be a change in narrative to highlight female centric agendas even in nature shows. The fact that it's narrated from the perspective of the animal is even worse. It seems television has been truly lost with no genre spared. Probably the worst natural documentary I've seen.

Not great

[jtgdsn-39625 · 3/10 · 7 April 2021]

Good nature show but it bashes and demeans the value and importance of males. Very unfortunate because both males and females are equal and should be respected.

Woke revisionist garbage

[paulmercia · 1/10 · 10 April 2021]

OMG Nature shows aren't safe now. This is not a documentary but rather feminist spin on nature contradicting every reputable nature show about lions. IOW propagandist Garbage.

The feminist pride

[camera-op99 · 2/10 · 8 April 2021]

A pride of lions in The Kruger National park with a specific relationship to a Lioness Malika and her life journey. I was expecting a wildlife documentary but found the narration to be belittling of the male species in a sharp feminist way that took largely from the footage and splendor of large cats in the wild. Adding a humanistic "voice" into the animal kingdom is both pretentious and for me was a nauseating experience. Nature has a survival mode and roles within the structure to help the group survival, a feminist, male demeaning narration took away the splendor of nature as it is. Highly doubt you would hear SIr David Attenborough give voice to such a text. I found it hard to give 2 stars as the experience was for me far to bias and not a neutral narration expected in a documentary.

For young 4th grade kids; nothing but ads; garbage.

[cgtam · 2/10 · 12 April 2021]

Waste of time. This bland film is 15 minutes long , extended to 1 hour due to excruciating ad interruptions every 2 minutes. Narration recaps the previous 2 minute segment, giving viewer maybe 1 minute of new words with repeated scenes. There are better docs w/ human views in lions- Nat Geo "Savage Kingdom" with Charles Dance narrating beautifully in his GOT Tyron Lannister voice.

Wonderful job, great scenery, great narration

[vchimpanzee · 17 October 2021]

I recently got around to seeing this special that aired earlier in the year. It didn't seem all that interesting if it was going to be two hours, but there is a story to be told. Whether Angela Bassett really knew what was going on I can't say, but she did an admirable job telling us the story as if she was the lion being followed. Was it one lion? The females all looked alike to me.

The lions get to play, of course, and these scenes are as cute as if we were watched house cats raising kittens. But no one is feeding these cats except themselves. The males let the females to the work while they take charge of guarding the pride. That seems to be what I've been told is how these things work. And when an animal is brought down and eaten, it is real. No assurance that "no animals are harmed". This is nature. Some young kids won't be ready for that, but overall I think kids can watch this. There is, however, a tragedy and we are not subjected to the graphic truth. No young lions are being shown being harmed. Nevertheless, the narration indicates something terrible has happened, and the reactions and the absence of certain characters indicates this is true. Older lions are shown being hurt, but it's not graphic like with the predator-prey relationship.

This being Africa, there is great scenery. During a drought it does not look all that good, but droughts end.

Even when grown, the lions still know how to have fun. And then they have to get serious. And sometimes things get desperate. At least that's what we are told. If things weren't desperate, though, I guess it wouldn't look that way.

As much danger as the lions are shown to be in, one has to wonder about the photographers. Zoom lenses help, and films like this have been done for decades, but they really seemed to get too close to the action. Perhaps with editing, the photographers and editors were able to create situations that didn't really exist but were close enough to the reality, and safer than actually following the real action.

I don't remember enough about nature specials from when I was a child, or films we were shown in school, to make a comparison to other films or programs. And I don't watch cable channels unless I am staying in a motel. And not channels with nature shows at all. I can only speak for this program. It makes a good introduction to lion behavior for those not familiar with it. Assuming, of course, the males are really jerks.