Customer Reviews

Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins DVD


This movie is a tribute to Flower, the matriarch of the Whiskers clan of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert. It follows Flower from the time she was just a pup until she becomes the Matriarch of the whiskers Clan.

If you enjoy Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet, you have to get this movie. I agree that Sean Astin, the regular narrator, would have done a better job narrating than Whoopi.
Highly recommended for fans of Flower, and Meerkat Manor the series.

Gunner May, 2008

I love Meerkat Manor and I really like Whoopi Goldberg, but she is really awful as the narrator of this film. She mumbles through the whole thing and is often indecipherable. We're essentially watching a nature show, and Whoopi keeps deadpanning jokes and stumbling through the lines in an unnatural way. They should have just kept the same narrator as from the regular show.

In my opinion, the movie really isn't as bad as everyone says; I've got one problem with it, and that is the actual footage of the Meerkats shown in the movie are just random Meerkats that basically happened to 'do what the film crew wanted them to,' and when they did, they edited the tape together to give us the movie. If the movie was actually filmed like the Meerkat Manor series in which the actual named Meerkats are being filmed in their lives, then the movie would have been much more pleasing.

Whoopi's narrative is a bit different from what viewers may be used to, but I think she adds something 'special' and different for the movie, since the movie IS a bit different from the series. It's a good 'prequel' to the series for someone who has never seen it.

I still favour the series over the movie, but the movie is still worth seeing if you love meerkats and are open-minded to a different narrator.

SO IT'S NOT ENOUGH that we lost Flower and Mozart in season three, the show's producer, Carolyn Hawkins had to take Sean Astin from us, too. Fans had every reason to expect Astin to return to narrate future seasons - and specials such as "The Story Begins." He led us through Flower's life as a leader of her tribe. Why shouldn't we expect him to tell us about her pup-hood?
Apparently, we are wrong. A letter from Animal Planet advises that human meerkat management decided it was time for women to take over narration duties. Management - I read that "marketing" - wanted a lighter tone: "With ... Flower's passing the show's producer wanted to signal a change for the Whiskers clan and felt the best way to do that was with a new narrator. When Meerkat Manor premieres ... Emmy-award winning Stockard Channing will lend a headstrong voice to the Manor."
Nice call on the "lighter tone" for women, folks. Thanks bunches.
Here's the gripe. Why tamper with perfection? "Meerkat Manor" has become an Animal Planet icon. Ratings are heads and tails better than spin offs such as "Orangutan Island" and the, frankly, offensive "Lemur Kingdom" that cites its critters with stereotypical hip hop characteristics. Not a show I'd want children to watch.
I love Whoopi Goldberg, who narrates "The Story Begins," the story of young Flower. I also enjoy and respect Stockard Channing, but neither have Astin's resonance. Couple Goldberg's voice with the saccharine sweet score that accompanies "Story" and you've got a nauseating 75 minutes to get through.
Meerkat fans should be sure to pick up season three with its incredible true life story and compassionate narrator, who leads us through the triumphs and tragedies of the Kalahari. Don't insult the journey with the new marketing. Do yourself a favor, too, and avoid "The Story Begins." Here, the story ends.
- Kay Reynolds, The Virginian-Pilot

I've tried 3 times to watch this movie and I'm only half through it - and decided to see what others are saying. Whoppi Goldberg's narration is AWFUL. Sean Astin's narration made the series dynamite - and we were REALLY watching the one-and-only real Flower. It is sad to see such a wonderful series debased by such a terrible movie. Meerkat Manor, the series, rocks. Meerkat Manor, the movie, sucks !

That should have been the title of this fiasco. Personally Flower was never my favorite meerkat, i always found her cold and harsh,but that is not the problem here. The problems are:

1. Whoopi: her narration is distracting and annoying.
2. The fact that it is a movie and has to be condensed, it loses all thrill of what is going to happen next.

But my main gripe is that this "movie" isn't actual footage of how things happened it is meerkat "actors" that were filmed untill they got the necessary footage needed to fill in the story. If they didnt have actual Flower footage they shouldnt have bothered making this movie. As it is its as fake as "THE HILLS" and not even half as entertaining. Also i felt the script was dumbed down, like it was talking down to the viewer.

As for season four of MM im not afraid of change, is the same show but with a different narrator. I find it as entertaining as it always has been.

But this movie should be skipped.
EP

Weak script, not enough real film footage and detail about Flower, skims and skips too much, not satisfying. Not like the TV show of Meerkat Manor. I bought the film to watch on my own time. If I had known it wasn't worth it, I wouldn't have bothered to buy it. Was a real fan of the TV show.

I am completely addicted to the series, but I can't get all the way through it, either. The narration is indecipherable, passionless and, well, just awful. Choosing Sean Astin to narrate the series was brilliant. Why he was not chosen to narrate this movie makes no sense. True, it is a tribute to Flower, but most of it is recreated, with very few scenes of the "real" stars. Sean's narration would have made this thing watchable. Don't waste your money; read the Professor's book instead!

This sweet little film is a tribute to Flower, the beloved Mama Meerkat who died during the filming of the third season. I do not know how accurate the storytelling and filming actually are, but it doesn't matter. This is a nice Mother's Day gift about a smart, brave, beautiful little animal and her huge, colorful family.

My only regret is that Sean Astin, the narrator of the original three seasons. did not provide the narration for this last film, dedicated to Flower. Apparently Whoopie Goldberg is the narrator for the fourth season (the "Next Generation" pun inescapable, especially with Whoopi, to Star trek fans). I would have preferred Sean Astin, but this does nothing to detract from the enjoyment of the film. Buy it and give it to a favorite mother.

Whoopie Goldberg's presence overwhelms this movie and takes away from the Meerkats. Skip this movie. I LOVE the Meerkats, but this was not good.