The Last Jaguar: What is this spiritual sequel to Mia and the White Lion worth? (critical)
Gilles de Maistre films a new wild animal in a family and eco-friendly fiction.
At the end of 2018, Gilles de Maistre had amazed the young audience thanks to Mia and the white lion. Filmed with the help of zoologist Kevin Richardson, aka “the man who whispered in the ears of lions”this story of friendship between a little girl and a lion cub growing up alongside her before being threatened by poachers, was convincing, especially thanks to its incredible scenes where the heroine rubbed shoulders with the animal, walking alongside it or making it downright cuddles, even when he had reached his adult size.
“The predictability of the plot and the small approximations of the interpretation are quickly forgiven as the scenes where teenage Mia plays with the adult feline are breathtaking”we wrote when it came out in our critical.
Gilles de Maistre: “Mia and the White Lion has been purchased all over the world… except in South Africa”
The project for a sequel was quickly mentioned, but it was impossible to find the same actress and the same feline after the end of the exceptional filming of this film, spread over several years for “tame” the feline. Once the bond between the young teenager and the animal was broken, the team could no longer recreate it.
After two other projects, the documentary Tomorrow is ours (2019), following children wanting to change the world, and animal fiction The Wolf and the Lion (2021), the director and his co-writer Prune de Maistre therefore had the idea of a story very close to that of Mia, but with a jaguar, this time. Or a creature just as wild… and the victim of bloody trafficking.
The Last Jaguar takes us to the heart of the Amazon, in the footsteps of Hope, the last animal of her species to survive in the wild. Young Autumn (played by Airam Camacho, then by Lumi Pollack) spent her childhood with him in a local tribe, before a tragedy which pushed her father to take her to live in New York. When she learns that the beast is in danger, she takes the first plane to try to save it, in secret. She reluctantly drags along her SVT teacher (Emily Bett Rickards from Arrow), an agoraphobic woman who can’t do anything without the help of her little hedgehog.
If we obviously think of The Emerald Forestby John Boorman, or in the cinema of Jean-Jacques Annaud (Two brothers on your mind), The Last Jaguar is unfortunately not as striking as its models. Nor that Mia and the White Lion. We find its qualities there, namely spectacular scenes between the young actress and the immense jaguar.
He was raised alongside him for several months, creating this proximity which is literally filmed from every angle. Among all the actresses approached for this project, Lumi was chosen because she was the most comfortable with the jaguar, the most curious, attentive to animals, and this is felt on the screen. She almost didn’t make the film, SAG-AFTRA (the American actors’ union, to which she had been attached since her participation in Falloutin 2021) finding the concept of having a 13-year-old girl play with a real wild animal that is too dangerous.
The film is truly built around this relationship, with the reunion between Autumn and Hope being thought of as the climax of the Last Jaguar. Unfortunately, beyond these key scenes, the plot gets bogged down in situations that are not very credible, especially because of the comic supporting role who multiplies the grotesque gags. The film alternates between naivety and jokes, and repeatedly supports its messages, certainly important, of the preservation of wildlife and the desire to follow through on one’s ideals. But by overdoing it, it is ultimately less moving than Mia. Probably also because it was not entirely filmed in natural settings? The atmosphere is too artificial to make us travel as much as we would have liked with Autumn and Hope…
