Tigers are adorable. Tigger, Tony, but real live tiger cubs are irresistible. Many people will be drawn to this film for that reason alone. And for that reason alone, this film would entertain them. But "Two Brothers" takes cute and runs with it, climbs up trees with it, sucks your thumbs with it. A strong tiger-centered story drives this drama.

Much of the film is shot on digital HD, though a few scenes required 35mm (for slow-mo etc.). The mix of formats and resolutions distracted me, but I'm hyper sensitive to this sort of thing. Probably most viewers won't notice. Though, many pans and various other camera movements are a bit too quick for the big screen -- hard to watch even for the average filmgoer. That said, the film is solidly edited, directed with a strong pace, acted well (both human and animal), and entirely endearing. It's a tiger's tale; the human interaction is secondary. Some animal pictures don't spend enough time with the animals -- not so with this. You'll get your fill of tiger action, and be surprised at how well they seem to "act" their part.

Shot in Cambodia and Thailand, over thirty tigers were used in the production. And though some scenes employed animatronics (including the duck scene -- which is perfectly realized), in total less than 1 minute of edited film is composed of fake animal. Nearly all of the scenes that include humans and tigers were shot twice, then merged. This was one way to ensure safety. Another had the crew and talent spending large chunks of time behind bars while the animals acted outside.