Movie Review: ‘The Tiger Rising’

Review by James Lindorf

It has been a busy couple of years adapting the works of author Kate DiCamillo (“Because of Winn-Dixie”). Netflix began producing a movie based on “The Magician’s Elephant in December 2020. Walt Disney Pictures released the film “Flora & Ulysses” on February 19th, 2021. and writer-director Ray Giarratana and The Avenue are bringing “The Tiger Rising” to theaters beginning January 21st and homes on February 8th.

“The Tiger Rising” spells out its overarching theme from its opening scene. As 12-year-old Rob Horton (Christian Convery) emerges from the motel room he and his father (Sam Trammell) call home, there is a clunky voice-over. Telling the audience who Rob is and about the real and metaphor cages we find ourselves in throughout our lives. With time to kill before his school bus arrives, Rob sets off to explore the woods near the motel. What starts as a typical hike to prepare himself for another day of facing his bullies would change his life. When Rob discovers a caged tiger in the woods, it sets his imagination on fire and gives him the first thing he can look forward to since the death of his mother. Given the target audience of kids Rob’s age or younger, wearing your intentions on your sleeve isn’t the worst thing you can do. To try and keep parents and older viewers interested, Giarratana does two things.

The first was working with Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee to cast the right kid to play Rob. Convery may be just 12 years old and even younger during the actual filming, but he is very experienced with 26 credits before “The Tiger Rising.” Those credits include principal roles in the Netflix series “Sweet Tooth” and the John Cena family film “Playing with Fire.” The second most crucial element is finding the right kid to work with Convery as the argumentative and stubborn Sistine. Sistine is struggling emotionally just like Rob, but where he trends towards stoic, she wears her emotions on her sleeve. She would make Cobra Kai proud with the way she likes to strike first. The team chose Madalen Mills, the breakout star of Netflix’s “Jingle Jangle,” to play the young girl searching for a new normal.

With the kids’ casting being taken care of but lacking the star power of Abigail Breslin or Macaulay Culkin, they decided to bring in some powerhouse talent to play the key adult characters. First, there is Dennis Quaid, who plays Beauchamp, the owner of both the motel and the tiger. Rob’s mother is played by Katherine McPhee, former “American Idol” contestant and one half of Banana Split on “Masked Singer.” The final essential character is Willie May, who acts as the motel’s maid and spiritual advisor. The role leans into the tired “magical negro trope” with Queen Latifah always providing the right answers and asking the right questions to send Rob and Sistine down their path of enlightenment and healing. These actors provide all the interest for adults and give it any chance of being profitable.

With the audience constantly ahead of the story, the next thing Giarratana did to help keep your attention was pull out all the tricks they could afford. His everything but the kitchen sink approach fills the film with flashbacks, animated bits, flights of fantasy, dream sequences, and old-fashioned artistic skills like whittling. He wants to keep the audience on their toes visually to help support a story you can predict before you see a second character appear on the screen. It is a valiant effort, and the elements have varying degrees of success, with the animated bits being a bit of a swing and a miss, and the flashbacks working the best of the group.

“The Tiger Rising” isn’t the most complex story, and they should have given their target audience more credit when adapting DiCamillo’s work. In the end, Giarratana made a sweet film with a charming main character that can be enjoyed but will be forgotten before any of the cast and crew release their next project. “The Tiger Rising” earns a 2.5 out of 5.

IN THEATERS: January 21st, 2022
ON DIGITAL AND ON DEMAND: February 8, 2022
DIRECTOR: Ray Giarratana
WRITER: Ray Giarratana
CAST: Christian Convery, Madalen Mills, Sam Trammell, Katharine McPhee, Dennis Quaid and Queen Latifah
RUN TIME: 102 Minutes
RATING: PG
GENRE: Family/Adventure
DISTRIBUTOR: The Avenue