Title: My Lucky Elephant
Directed by: Eric Schwab
Starring: First Khunchan, Tanyarat Praddittan, Somboon the Elephant, Hong the Elephant
Running time: 91 minutes, Rated PG
Special features: Trailer
The story of an orphaned boy living in the jungle who befriends a lost baby elephant. They struggle together to find work to keep fed and find their own paths to family and gainful employment. The boy and the elephant find their way to the Academy of Art where tourists in Thailand go to watch elephants paint the same picture and sell them at auction. Lucky is special because he creates artworks with hints of cubism and abstract expressionism instead of the generic flowers the rest of the elephants produce.
To be totally honest, I was bored with this film. There’s not a lot of dialogue, so I was able to watch this film with my finger on the fast-forward button as long as I had the closed captions up on the screen; so if I happened to miss any dialogue, I was able to keep up with the story, and there’s not much to it. I managed to watch this film in a half hour. If I had to actually sit through this film, I wouldn’t. I know that parents of small children however will not be as fortunate.
I feel that kids will be bored with this film as well, because the only interesting parts involve the elephants, and even those scenes get tiresome. The ending is cliche and cutesy. There’s not much violence except “Lucky” gets a cut on his leg and then there’s an “exciting” escape from a trap when a couple of thugs try to steal the elephant. The story is pretty generic. I tried to revert to a childlike state while watching scenes again without the fast forward and I still would’ve been bored. If you need to put your kids down for a nap, this film will definitely get them good and settled before dozing off.
Total rating: D
Reviewed by: JM Willis
