''The Meerkats'', also known as ''Meerkats: The Movie'', is a feature-length 2008 British wildlife fiction film which anthropomorphises the daily struggles of a clan of

meerkats MeerKAT, originally the Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope consisting of 64 antennas in the Meerkat National Park, in the Northern Cape of South Africa. In 2003, South Africa submitted an expression of interest to host the Square Kilo ...

in the

Kalahari Desert The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal d ...

. It was produced by

BBC Films BBC Film (formerly BBC Films) is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It was founded on 18 June 1990, and has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years, including '' Truly, Madly, Deeply'', '' Alan Pa ...

, and filmed by the award-winning

BBC Natural History Unit The BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) is a department of BBC Studios that produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries, including '' ...

. It is the debut directorial feature of

James Honeyborne James Honeyborne is the creative director of Freeborne Media, he previously worked as an executive producer at the BBC Natural History Unit where he oversaw some 35 films, working with multiple co-producers around the world. His projects include ...

, previously a producer of natural history programmes for television. The worldwide premiere was held at the Dinard Film Festival,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in October 2008, expanding to a wide release the following week. The film was released in 2009, on 7 August in the UK. This was dedicated to actor Paul Newman, the narrator of the film, who died in 2008, shortly before this movie was released making it his final film role.

Plot

The documentary follows the adventure of a young meerkat named Kolo who is forced to leave his home by a group of meerkats who wanted more territory. Lost in the African savannah, he tries to reunite with his family, but encounters large, fierce, and deadly creatures.

Production

''The Meerkats'' was announced in November 2006 as BBC Films and The Weinstein Company agreed a co-financing deal for the film, with The Weinstein Company also handling international distribution. The year-long principal photography began on location in the Kalahari Desert,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

in the same month. It became the Natural History Unit's first feature-length wildlife fiction based on original material, and followed the successes of ''

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

'' (2007) and '' Deep Blue'' (2003) which were both companion pieces to BBC television series. The script was written by

Alexander McCall Smith Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British writer. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law an ...

, author of many books set in Botswana. Paul Newman provides the narration, which was recorded at a studio near his home shortly before his death. ''The Meerkats'' was the final film credit of Newman's long career. '' Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins'', a second feature-length wildlife film on meerkats, was also released in 2008. It was produced by

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily ...

Discovery Films Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

and

Oxford Scientific Films Oxford Scientific Films (OSF) is a British company that produces natural history and documentary programmes. Founded on 8 July 1968, by noted documentary filmmaker Gerald Thompson, the independent film company broke new ground in the world of do ...

, the makers of ''

Meerkat Manor ''Meerkat Manor'' is a British television programme produced by Oxford Scientific Films that premiered in September 2005. Originally broadcast on Animal Planet International for four series, until its cancellation in August 2008, the program ...

'', but was not screened in theatres. BBC Films' Joe Oppenheimer, a producer of ''The Meerkats'', has stated that the two films are very different in character (the BBC and Discovery originally planned to collaborate, but couldn't agree on a common ground). James Honeyborne has described ''The Meerkats'' as "a stand-alone, blue-chip wildlife film from the ground up. It will be immersive. There will be a huge sense of place on a massive scale. You will really see real wild animals."

Awards

* Winner, Grand Prix Earth, Special Award, Tokyo International Film Festival * Best of Festival, Wild Talk Africa Film Festival * Winner, Best Editing, Wild Talk Africa Film Festival * Winner, Best Sound Design, Wild Talk Africa Film Festival * Nomination, Best Music, Wild Talk Africa Film Festival * Nomination, Best Script, Wild Talk Africa Film Festival * Winner, Best Editing, Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival * Nomination, Best Writing, Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival * Winner, Silver Teton, Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival

Reception

Writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' reviewer Philip French noted that the "... nature movie made in the

Kalahari The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coasta ...

desert has some good footage but is more Disney-anthropomorphic than Attenborough.."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meerkats 2008 films British documentary films Films about meerkats BBC Film films Documentary films about mammals 2000s English-language films 2000s British films