A Reindeer’s Journey Parent Guide

When a reindeer calf is born, it has five minutes to stand up, five minutes to learn to walk, and five minutes to learn to run or swim. The arctic environment of Finland’s Lapland region is unforgiving and calves must learn quickly in order to survive. If the calf is born early, before the mother has reached the calving grounds, the urgency is even greater.

A Reindeer’s Journey tells the story of a little reindeer named Aïlo (Aye-EE-lo). Beginning with his early birth, the movie follows him through the hazardous trip to the calving grounds, the frolics of the brief Finnish summer, and the early winter trek to the windswept frozen peaks where the members of the herd will scavenge for lichen until they start their spring migration once again.

This northern circle of life falls somewhere between documentary and animal adventure story. Donald Sutherland’s narration gives the animals human-like emotions and relationships, but only to a point. There is no imagined dialogue between the animals and no attempt to imagine a plot beyond that created by nature. Sadly, the narration is the production’s weakest point: although Sutherland’s voice is charming, the text sounds like it has been translated - not always successfully - from the original French script. There are no obvious grammatic errors, but there are tonal shifts that I can only chalk up to cultural or linguistic quirks that simply can’t be rendered in another language.

Although the script isn’t always successful, the cinematography is magnificent. Stunning vistas, from windswept mountain tops to forests filled with snow to the fjords, will leave viewers spellbound with the majestic landscapes of Lapland. This movie is worth watching for the visuals alone.

The heart of the movie is the animals and Aïlo shares the spotlight with a lonely Arctic fox, an evasive hare, a mother wolf teaching her young to hunt, a distractible wolverine, several apparently caffeinated squirrels and a stoat who is clearly the meth-head of the Lapland forest. There are also unfortunate lemmings (“the chicken nuggets of the woods”), who are hunted and caught by predators.

Given the natural cycle of predator and prey, parents might be concerned about showing this movie to their little ones. But rest assured, only easily frightened preschoolers will be troubled with Aïlo’s journey. There is some scary music, the reindeer and other animals are pursued by wolves, wolverines, and birds of prey, but actual kills are not shown and no blood or corpses are seen in any detail. Kids are more likely to be bored by the movie’s slow pacing than upset by the realities of the food chain.

Pacing issues aside, A Reindeer’s Journey has much to recommend it, including lush visuals, a haunting soundtrack, compelling animal subjects, and explicit messages about perseverance, courage, and self-confidence. And watching icicles build up on the reindeers’ antlers will give all family members a sense of profound gratitude for their comfortable homes.