The Wolf and the Lion

The Wolf and the Lion is a 2021 family film directed by Gilles de Maistre who also wrote the script with his wife Prune de Maistre. The film stars Molly Kunz as Alma, who returns to her late grandfather's cabin and finds herself taking care of a wolf pup and a lion cub who grow up together as brothers. The film premiered on 25 September 2021 at the Zurich Film Festival where it won best children's film. It went on to wide release on 13 October 2021. The film received generally negative reviews from critics. Plot After losing her grandfather, Alma Deranquel returns to her childhood home in the Canadian wilderness. In the forest, she comes across the wreckage of a plane that had been destined for a circus with a lion cub poached from its mother in Africa. The cub falls into her hands when a bald eagle knocks it out of the nest it fell into during the crash. So, she decides not to hand it over to the forest rangers because her grandfather campaigned against the mistreatment of animals in circuses. At the same time, a female wolf who had somewhat befriended Alma's grandfather—perhaps because his cabin was built over the site of the old wolf den where she, herself, was born and raised—comes to find refuge in Alma's house, with her pup, when she is pursued by two scientists. The lion cub and the wolf pup live like brothers; they play together and both are kept well-fed thanks to the she-wolf. While Alma is off on a 2-day trip involving a classical music audition for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the wolf mother disappears. It turns out that she was hit by a tranquilizer dart fired by one of the two scientists. Both of them wishing to transfer her to a breeding facility for the (fictional) endangered wolf species Canis lupus nyx. This leaves Alma the only one available to raise and protect the cubs while the three of them live in peace for a year or two. During that time, she names the wolf pup Mozart and the lion cub "Dreamer" (in apparent reference to the Ozzy Osbourne song). After Alma has an accident, her Native Canadian godfather Joe must notify the authorities to save her, despite the fact that this separates the trio. Mozart is reunited with his mother at the rescue facility, where the two zoologists hope he'll breed with the available younger females as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the lion trainer of the circus who bought Dreamer begins showing his classical music-loving son Raphael how to show a lion who is "boss".