Elephant Parent Guide

Migrations are one of the great wonders of nature, normally associated with birds and butterflies. Until I watched Disneynature’s Elephant, I didn’t know that some African elephants make an annual 1000 mile migration across the vast Kalahari desert as they move between the Okavango delta and the Zambezi river. Making such a lengthy round trip trek across harsh terrain requires leadership, planning, cohesive social bonds, communication, and memory – all of which are demonstrated by the elephants who star in this fascinating film.

Elephant, produced by Disneynature and streaming on Disney+, is the story of a 40 year old African elephant named Shani and her spunky one year old son, Jomo as they travel with their herd, which is led by Shani’s 50 year old sister, Gaia. Remembering the lessons learned from her mother, Gaia has two decades of experience in steering her herd to far flung waterholes, connected by paths worn into the desert floor by generations of elephants. But Gaia is getting old and there are dangers along the path – drought, elephants competing for the same food, crocodiles, hyenas, and lions. It will take everything she and her herd have to complete their annual migration.

Disneynature documentaries all fall somewhere along the edu-tainment spectrum, some tilting more in the direction of entertainment, others more closely to education. Elephant is one of the latter – it’s not as entertaining as some of Disneynature’s other productions (Penguins, for instance), but it provides viewers with a great learning experience. I will never look at elephants again without remembering the incredible scenes of Jomo’s family celebrating birth, caressing the dying, and mourning the dead together. The educational content comes wrapped in a lovely package – particularly the amazing cinematography we have come to expect from Disneynature. The script is occasionally a bit clunky, but it is narrated by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, with such enthusiasm that she manages to compensate for the weak spots. The soundtrack is also evocative and I thoroughly enjoyed the vocals.

Parents considering Elephant for their animal-crazy kids can be reassured that negative content is minor. There are numerous moments of peril, and a lengthy episode of lions stalking the herd through the night is particularly scary. Little ones might be scared by the lions and parents might want to take a popcorn break when the big cats show up.

Despite its few flaws, Elephant remains an absorbing docudrama about an amazing animal. While watching Gaia and Shani and the rest of the herd navigate the challenges of their environment, I started to wonder how much more these resourceful animals could accomplish if they had opposable thumbs. If that were the case, maybe these intelligent creatures would be the ones making movies about us…..