Customer Reviews

National Geographic: Predators at War

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I myself am very interested in African Wildlife, and Africa can be a rather unforgiving place. This Documentary is very well done in the way it presents everything. It revolves around a long drought that happened at the Mala Mala Game Reserve in Africa, and is centered around five Main Predators. A Pride of Lions, A Clan of Spotted Hyenas, A Lone Leopard, Cheetahs and African Wild Dogs. It portrays what happens when water is scarce, and food is hard to find. These five predators constantley have to fight for food with each other, which leads to some amazing confrontations, hence the name Predators at War.
It is very well narrated and shows some amazing footage, One of my favorite parts is when several female Lions, A Hyena, and A Leopard are all fighting for the same meal, its tense! Its also very graphic and portrays the true nature of these beasts in Hard Times, so its not the best for the Kids. Its my favorite Animal Documentary and that's why it deserves a perfect Five.

I saw it on NGC before the release on DVD, and I ordered several copies since I thought it is a wonderful gift.
The scenes are very well selected so that it matches perfectly with the narration. If you are looking for battles between large African predators this is it! But watch out, scenes are tough and loaded with the natural cruelty that characterizes the terrible survival fight in animal life. Basic instincts.

This is not a video about normal interactions between predators. Rather, this is a video about predators under stress. Drought has hit the Mala Mala game reserve, and two rainy seasons have passed with little or no rain. Food is scarce, and the competition between the predators is becoming more and more fierce.

The normal enmity between lions and hyenas, never quiet in the best of times, is intensified. Both lions and hyenas steal prey cached in trees by leopards, hyenas leaping from the ground, and lions climbing to dangerous heights. Lightly built cheetahs, who normally abandon their prey at the slightest opposition, instead defend it. Wild dogs and vultures also vie for their share. Increased competition means more confrontation - and more violence.

Third generation game warden Kim Wolhuter captures the action on film. There is no lack of dramatic moments, whether during hunts, or during the sometimes fatal fights over carcasses that follow. The video does not flinch from showing the details - details which, while sometimes gruesome, nonetheless illuminate the underlying ecological dynamic. Wolhuter's occasional commentary helps explain how the drought is affecting the animals' behavior, making them more aggressive and less predictable.

Unfortunately, the producers saw fit to jazz up an already good video with questionable metaphors and sometimes inappropriate special effects. The narration pushes military similes too far - lions, while powerful, are not armored like tanks. The visualization of the animals' musculature is useful, but the visualizations of the animals as mechanical robots is at best gimmicky. The special effects used for the lion's roar could be misleading, and the sequence on hyenas hearing the sounds of a lion kill seem to have no bearing on reality.

If you're already familiar with how these predators normally behave, and you can filter out the sometimes overdone narration and special effects, this video is worth buying. If you just want some gory entertainment, it may even be perfect. On the other hand, if you think the gimmicks will bother you, you may want to look for an alternative. If you don't mind VHS, National Geographic: Africa's Stolen River documents another drought in another part of Africa without the gimmicks. If this is your first video on African wildlife, you might want to consider National Geographic Video: Africa's Animal Oasis on VHS, or the Joubert's classic National Geographic: Eternal Enemies - Lions and Hyenas on DVD.

Normally, I very much dislike animal documentaries that have human military type themes which is quite common on NGC. From the title this sounds like another ignorant stereotypical NGC doc that tries to explain animal behavior in human (military)terms. However, this doc actually is quite appropriately named and it truely is a story of predators at war for survival. I've never seen such amazing footage showing the harsh interaction of so many predators. The scene where the leopard, lions, and hyenaes are all fighting over the same kill in and out of a tree is absolutely beyond words. The conclusion is unlike anything I've ever seen and you will quickly understand why lions don't like to climb trees.

I saw this on cable last night and can't quit thinking about it and immediately ordered it. I watch ALOT of nature shows and this ranks near the top (Life of Mammals is still #1).

For those that say this isn't appropriate for children are projecting human emotions in a judgemental way onto nature. Nature is what it is and children should see this. This isn't human violence and there's no reason to shelter your children from the reality, harshness and beauty of nature. It is our preconceived notions of nature that need to change and not nature itself.

This was probably one of the best documentaries ever made, also the goriest! There is a scene where a pack of hyenas were mobbing a nomadic hyena, if that sounds bad enough later a uunattended hyena cub was killed by a male lion(Lions hate hyenas by the way) and when the mother returned, she began to eat the corpse of her cub! There are also scenes of lions eating other lions, and a mother leopard ate her cub since there was no other food for her to eat.I gave it a four because most of the fighting was between lions and hyenas and not from what probably be cooler fights like between l
ions and crocidiles. Do not eat on a full stomach because there are some realy nasty scenes such as when hyenas and lions are ripping each others guts. otherwise it is a pretty good movie and I reccomend you by it, make a review, and write whether you agree or dissagree with me about it.

shocking and unbelieveable.This are some of the scene you will see lions eating dead lions, male leapord eating a female leapord, classis confrantation between lions and hyena.Pack of wild dogs attacking hyena. Mercliess killing towards the cape buffalo by pride of lions. In some scene prey were eaten life in a bloody manner. It is brutal and deadly.I promise you that.It is defnetly not suitable for the younger kids. This is reality. Overall it is the best war scene you can witness in your very own eye and good luck.

There are few nature series I don't like, but I hated this one. The constent freeze frames and comparing every single predator to military machines was ridiculous. I understand some people are bored with good artistic filming and want more excitement, but when showing how animals survive in the wild it should only be added in moderate proportions. Between the narator going on about how warrior-like the animals were in a harsh voice, and the constant comparisons to machine blueprints this series lost me.

As the title reads, very little insight with even less thoughtful commentary in this "Big animals with bigger teeth are fighting!! Get your camera!" video.

Dissapointing work from National Geographic.

This documentary follows the lives of three of Africa's deadliest predatrs (Lion, Spotted Hyena, Leopard) as they struggle through an almonst 2yr drought. Forced into higher concentrations due to water and prey shortages, competition between these beasts intensifies and devolves into a full scale war with multiple fronts. Great story and filming. Some of the footage has been borrowed from older NatGeo documentaries, but it's not particularly noticable and makes up perhaps less than 5mins of the whole film. If u love African predators and don't mind seeing nature in the raw, this is a definate must have!

Not for the 'Namby pamby', real life of predators under stress. Not to be missed, a must for true wildlife fans. Great filming and narration which keeps you right in the thick of the action, and keeps you on the edge of your chair for all it's 97min duration. Presented in widescreen format which is a bonus.