Product Details

• Actors: Paddy O'Byrne
• Directors: Jamie Uys
• Writers: Jamie Uys
• Producers: Jamie Uys, Boet Troskie
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: February 6, 1995
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630321228X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #288,672 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

On the short list for the "world's toughest place to live" award, Southwest Africa's Namib Desert houses a wealth of intriguing creatures, featured in Jamie Uys's Animals are Beautiful People. As various beasts, bugs, fish, and fowl appear, a soft-spoken narrator pinpoints behaviors that mirror human ones, often inventing whimsical tales meant to inspire chuckles or sighs. A male wart hog, a "homely bachelor," lands a "wife" with a penchant for redecorating his burrow; austere maribou glower like disapproving undertakers; a billowy, nameless fish is called a dizzy blonde. Uys's respect for the harsh lifestyle these creatures endure clearly displays itself amid the comical sound effects and Fantasia-lite melodies that infuse the 90-minute show. The result: a richly informative, beautifully filmed lesson in the power of adaptation and the lush wildlife that inhabits the cradle of civilization. Six years after completing this project, Uys went on to create The Gods Must Be Crazy. (Ages 5 and older) --Liane Thomas

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great movie for kids, June 4, 2005

By 

Julia Flyte - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Animals Are Beautiful People (DVD)

This documentary is covers the wildlife of Southern Africa. The animals are introduced in a very entertaining way, with a story about each that kids can really relate to eg the duck who pretends to be injured to distract the hyena away from her babies, the daddy ostrich protecting his eggs, the chimps who cartwheel down the hill, the fish who swallows her young to keep them safe. Along the way there is footage of other animals who are just interesting to look at. The photography is often stunning and the classical music score fits it well. The pace is quite quick, which is good as it holds a child's attention.

I bought this DVD for my five year old son because I remember seeing and loving the movie as a child. I wasn't sure how the movie would have aged, but it still looks pretty good. Now that I'm older I can spot flaws that I missed as a child - scenes that have clearly been set up by the filmmakers or edited together from different pieces of footage. This doesn't detract from its appeal as a family movie.

If you're a wildlife purist who is after a serious documentary, this isn't for you. But if you want an entertaining introduction to African wildlife, it's perfect. The reviewer who complains about the way that clouds are personalised is missing the point - this is a film that speaks to a child's imagination. My son loves it, although some of it is over his head and I can tell he'll get more out of it when he's a couple of years older. Nevertheless, I'm happy to have weaned him off Nick Jnr for a while!

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best and funniest animal video our family has ever seen, August 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Animals Are Beautiful People [VHS] (VHS Tape)

we saw this video many years ago, and loved it so much that we have been looking for it ever since. It is the best and funniest animal video, we have ever seen, and we have seen lots of them. We would highly recommend this for families to watch.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real world, April 19, 2002

By 

Jeanne Lynn (Winter Park, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animals Are Beautiful People [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a great animal video, I have passed it around to my teachers at school and friends are standing in line, the narrator is the same talented guy that did " The Gods Must be Crazy", you will see some scenes from the movie you will remember, a real aborigene trying to fake out an ostrich. The animals all have a grand time getting drunk one day out of the year on fermented fruit, the elephants are knee walking, the giraffe can't hold his neck up and the monkeys are made of silly putty. The baby pelicans that have to do a death march is the low of the movie, nature is as cruel as beautiful, and you see it all here, two thumbs up.