By John Corrado

The latest Earth Day release from Disneynature, Tiger takes us deep into the mythical forests of India to follow Ambar, a mama tiger trying to protect her four cubs.

Narrated by Priyanka Chopra Jones, the film follows Ambar and her litter of adorable cubs from birth, as their mother takes them to “jungle school.” She teaches the growing cubs how to eventually survive on their own, and coexist with the sloth bears and langue monkeys that they share the jungle with.

But they face any number of dangers. Predators include hungry pythons looking to feed (one cub will fill them up for weeks at a time), and the advances of Shankar, a predatory male tiger who banished the cubs’ father and is trying to take over the kingdom, threatening the babies in pursuit of their mother.

Culled from footage shot over the course of 1,500 days, we watch as Ambar goes out to hunt for deer, needing to stay fed so she can produce enough milk to feed her cubs. The images range from playful, such as frogs catching flies on Ambar’s back and the cubs learning how to gnaw on a deer carcass, to magical shots of fireflies lighting up the night. But there are also harrowing moments as the cubs face real peril from the aforementioned dangers, including the ominous sign of circling vultures.

Directed by Mark Linfield, a veteran of the series, and co-directed by Vanessa Berlowitz and Rob Sullivan, Tiger is pretty much an example of more of the same from the Disneynature brand, but that is also exactly what you want from the series at this point. The film has clear reverence for these creatures, with the camera crew shooting mostly from ground level to give us a tiger’s eye view of the Indian jungle (this makes for less sweeping landscape shots, though there are still a few).

Like the label’s various other productions, Tiger still assigns names and distinctive personalities to each of the four cubs, but the narration by Chopra Jones is also slightly less jokey and cutesy than it has been in the past; it’s more focused on the majesty of these big cats. If these are now streaming titles instead of the Earth Day theatrical events that they used to be in the pre-Disney+ era, these films have always been about helping audiences gain appreciation for the natural world by letting us get up close and personal with the creatures that inhabit it. And Disneynature’s Tiger is no different.

Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)

Disneynature’s TIGER – Tiger mum with cub. Photo by Yashpal Rathore. ©2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Disneynature’s Tiger is now available to stream exclusively on Disney+ alongside the companion film Tigers on the Rise, narrated by Blair Underwood.