Rating: 
Summary: Born Free
Review: I've probably seen this movie somewhere between 15 to 20 times since I was a kid. (I also read the book many moons ago.) It never ceases to entertain and is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes by the time the song "Born Free" resounds at the end. Born Free is the wonderful true story of the raising of Elsa, the lioness, by Joy and George Adamson (sorry to correct another reviewer, but Virgina McKenna was the actress who played Joy Adamson, so it's not the story of Elsa and the McKenna's). The story is heart warming, can be seen by the whole family, & will make you want to book a trip to Kenya when it's all said and done. No question, this is one of my favorites of all time!
Rating:
Summary: Family Classic
Review: It may be hard to believe that there were classic family films created in the 60s by anyone other than Disney. This movie is an example of a very good and classic family film, one where the only car chase is after a lion, there are no video games to be seen anywhere, and the central themes of the movie are love and that wild things should live free.
This movie is based on a book by Joy Adamson by the same name, and chronicles her and her husband's experiences with a trio of lion cubs. Eventually two of the cubs are sent to a zoo, but the third lion, a lioness that Joy calls Elsa, remains with Joy and her husband George. Of course, lions are wild animals and they can live with people for only so long, and Joy is faced with the need to have Elsa sent to a zoo. Joy is unable to think of Elsa being caged when she has been free for her whole life, so she attempts what had not been done before, repatriation of a captive lion back into the wild.
Elsa and her husband work long, hard and with a lot of frustration, despairing that Elsa would never be able to go back to the wild, or that she would die as a result of their attempts. All along the way you can see Joy Adamson's love for Elsa and her need to see Elsa be able to return to the wild.
Andy Williams sings "Born Free" to accompany the end of the movie. This song is one of Andy Williams' best. If you are familiar with this song you will recognize portions of it are used throughout the movie as a recurring theme.
This movie is simple and heart-warming. There are a few moderately violent scenes, but I would consider this movie appropriate for children of all ages, though with parents watching when the youngest family members watch. This kind of movie is rare in any age, and one to be treasured.
Rating:
Summary: The video is great-excellently made.
Review: It shows the beauty and wildlife of African bush,shows the deep love that the Adamsons had for Elsa.The end was lovely too. A touching story made into a lovely video.
Rating:
Summary: Great film adaptation of a good novel
Review: Joy Adamson wrote the book about how she and her game warden/husband lived in Africa and raised three lion cubs, especially the runt of the litter, Elsa. While the book was well-written, it was moving mainly because of the powerful sentiment portrayed and how well Ms. Adamson depicted life in Africa at the time. The film, with its highly moving and memorable musical score, captures all the best of the novel, without inventing/extrapolating the story out of recognition. The film-makers recognized what made the book good, and made that their own emphasis, creating a moving film that's a real tear-jerker without being sappy.
Rating:
Summary: Great film adaptation of a good novel
Review: Joy Adamson wrote the book about how she and her game warden/husband lived in Africa and raised three lion cubs, especially the runt of the litter, Elsa. While the book was well-written, it was moving mainly because of the powerful sentiment portrayed and how well Ms. Adamson depicted life in Africa at the time. The film, with its highly moving and memorable musical score, captures all the best of the novel, without inventing/extrapolating the story out of recognition. The film-makers recognized what made the book good, and made that their own emphasis, creating a moving film that's a real tear-jerker without being sappy.
Rating:
Summary: This story will stay with you forever
Review: Thank God for people like Ian and Virginia McKenna and for the beauty of the African Bush and her animals which is, in this story so magnificently demonstrated. The beauty, both glorious and heartbreaking of the story of Elsa and the McKennas will stay with you forever.
Rating:
Summary: A Really heartwarming tail (no pun intended!)
Review: This is one of my favorite movies. I first saw it as a child, and recently ordered the DVD version of the movie from Amazon.com. The movie brought back alot of memories, and I believe it has lost little impact from the time it was originally released in the mid-1960s. The story is a great one, the scsnerey in the movie is beautiful, and the acting is very good. The performance of the lioness in the film is spectacular. What I find particularly pleasing, in comparison with the movies of today, is the absence of human-on-human violence, sex, car chases, explosions, special effects, etc. This movie stands alone on its own merit - the power of the storyline and the heartwarming, though sad, story of the lioness named Elsa. People of all ages and backgrounds who have a great appreciation for nature and life will definitely enjoy this movie.
Rating:
Summary: 'As Free as the Wind Blows'
Review: This movie won the 1966 Academy Awards for song and best score shared by John Barry and Don Black which is sung by Frank Sinatra; I'm surprised it didn't win more awards than it did because this is my all time favorite movie! I saw this with my parents a few years after it came out in 1965; I cry every time, love everything about this picture. Love the lions!!! Especially Elsa who hung around until the local government got tired of her antics. The maturing Elsa begins to attract wild male lions and pretty soon, it becomes all too clear it's either the zoo or the African savannah. She came to the Adamson's East African residence when she was a little cub, her parents shot and killed by her soon to be foster father, George Adamson, the game warden for the area. Getting Elsa to adjust back to life in the wild is no easy matter and is the major part of the story.
The Adamsons in the movie, Travers and McKenna, were married in real life. I think Virginia McKenna's performance really made this movie. It looks like she didn't make tons of movies but has always been admired for her performances in the ones she did, sometimes winning nominations for them. For years after making the movie, she and her husband became active in conservation issues establishing the Born Free Foundation with their oldest son in 1991. She's also written a few books on the subject. The story is true and follows very closely the book written by the real Joy Adamson. Not even cursing is found in this movie!
Rating:
Summary: simply a great, clean, and utterly captivating family movie
Review: Without bombs, bullet, swear words, light sabers, bathroom humor, or any special effects, this managed to hold a wide age range group's attention. Other reviewers have commented a lot about the VHS movie, so let me confine my remarks to the DVD.
Actually, as DVDs go, this is not so great. The movie makes you very curious about a lot of things: how in the heck did they train the animals to make all their moves for the camera? how true to life is the story? and so on. The DVD, by virtue of totally lacking extras, utterly fails to answer any of those questions. The picture has that of-an-era very colorful and yet simultaneously slightly washed out look that begs, nay screams, for some kind of color correction. And the sound clearly has effects of tape compression or something; it is not very open (I listened in stereo, and don't know if there is a 5.1 track).
If you're looking for a reference DVD with gorgeous cinematography of African scenes, this isn't it (due to the color imbalance)l. I give it 5 stars anyway simply because the movie is so well made.
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