This wildlife documentary might have been a nice true-life complement to The Lion King -- except it's even more anthropomorphic. Veteran wild-life photographer Hugo van Lawick got his wish to film a feature on the elusive leopard of the Serengeti granted by the Discovery Channel, and the material he uncovered was almost too amazing to be believed -- not only is the baby leopard far cuter and engaging than most child actors working today, his adult life is more involving than an entire season of Seinfeld. The last 15 minutes of the film alone have the eloquence and power of the final act in a Greek tragedy. Who knew lions were such assholes?

So what's the problem? It would be tempting to blame the wavering, fluty tones of Sir John Gielgud's voiceover narration, but that's merely a symptom of the film's saccharine sentimentality and glib insistence on making obvious the parallels to human experience. One more reference between the "leopard son's" life and the relationship between van Lawick and his own son and you might collapse into hyena-like laughter. Van Lawick forgets one of the major principles of his art: showing is far superior to telling. At the Chestnut Hill.