Lena and Snowball Parent Guide

Lena (Melissa Collazo) is struggling to adapt after moving to a new town. She is bullied for her stutter and hasn’t been able to make any friends. While out for a bike ride, Lena stumbles upon a lion cub, who she soon names Snowball. Lena and Snowball become fast friends, but little does she know that Snowball is being chased down by two animal smugglers (Wade Williams and Branscombe Richmond) who will stop at nothing to get him back.

Far and away the best part of this movie is the lion cub. He’s super cute and gets into adorable hijinks. At one point, he falls asleep next to a puppy and if you don’t think that’s the most adorable thing ever then I don’t want to be your friend. That cub is the best actor on this set, and it’s not even a close competition.

As a whole, Lena and Snowball is as bland as its title. The writing is predictable, the plot holes are plentiful, and the acting is wooden. You know a production had a low budget when the end credits are less than 60 seconds long. All that said, it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever been subjected to. The movie is too boring to be offensive, and too generic to be considered a failure. You can’t miss if you don’t swing or whatever it is sports people say.

I think the writers are trying to get too many messages across, resulting in a bit of a thematic muddle. But there are some starting points in for good conversations with your kids. The bullying subplot could be a good prompt for talking about bullying and/or speech impediments. (Lena rarely stutters except when someone is commenting on it, but don’t let consistency get in the way of a good discussion.) There are also some glossed over themes about poaching and exotic animal ownership, which are important issues that your budding activist might want to latch on to.

Lena and Snowball is mostly inoffensive, aside from a couple of scenes involving guns being pointed at people. Overall, it’s a safe choice for family viewing, though the very young might get bored. My 4-year-old loved the lion cub, but whenever it wasn’t on screen he lost interest and wandered away. If you have an animal lover who doesn’t want to sit through a documentary, this might be a decent option for them.