Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
A coming of age story following a young meerkat pup, Kolo, growing up in the Kalahari desert; and an inspiring look at how one family's connection to each other and their surroundings is a model of resilience and fortitude for us all. Shot using ground-breaking techniques, this dramatised documentary is a one-of-a-kind presentation from The Weinstein Company and the BBC, featuring narration by Paul Newman.
The Meerkats is a visually stunning nature documentary with ground-breaking ground-level cinematography that brings viewers intimately close to meerkat life in the Kalahari. The camerawork is genuinely exceptional, capturing behavior and landscapes with remarkable clarity and proximity. However, the narrative structure is formulaic for the genre — a coming-of-age arc applied to wildlife is well-worn BBC territory — and the dramatized storytelling feels somewhat forced, anthropomorphizing the subjects in ways that reduce scientific authenticity. Paul Newman's narration is warm but the script leans heavily on sentimentality. The ending, while emotionally tidy, feels predictable and unearned. Novelty gets a modest boost for its technical shooting approach but the overall conception is familiar Planet Earth territory.