5 out of 10
 

Ayden McRory is a big game hunter, only lately the trophies he brings back to London haven't been selling well, so he's decided to pursue the more lucrative market of looting statuary from the ancient temples in the jungle where he hunts. The first such expedition takes him to a ruined temple that has become home to a family of tigers with two young cubs. After Ayden kills the tiger father he finds one of the cubs, the mother having gotten the other to safety, and takes pity on him. But when Ayden is arrested by a corrupt police sergeant for taking the statues, the little cub goes to the chief of the local village who sells him to a circus. There, he becomes Kumal, 'the Blood Thirsty Tiger'. Meanwhile, separated from his mother by a hunt led by Ayden shortly after his release from prison, the second cub is found by Raoul, the young son of the local administrator. He becomes Raoul's pet, and is given the name Songa. But here too disaster strikes:after mauling the family's dog, Bitsy, Songa is given to the local governor, whose favour Raoul's father hopes to gain. A year later, the cubs, now grown to adulthood, are reunited not as brothers, but as rivals in the arena at a special event held by the governor.

It is a story full of improbable coincidences, with an unlikely, rather sappy Hollywood style ending. At times the tigers seem gifted with intelligence and reactions far more appropriate to human characters than to believable, realistic animals of any kind, domestic or wild. The native people are virtually without exception portrayed as cruel, self-serving and corrupt, though to be fair the foreigners fare little better in that respect, and at times rather worse. The few sympathetic human characters seem perpetually to suffer as a result of their kindness and good intentions. And in the end, we are left with a man who loses his livelihood in the process of finally doing what he thinks is the right thing, a boy who essentially loses the only real friend he has, and two tigers who would likely, in the real world, quickly turn to hunting an easy prey captivity has made them intimately familiar with man.

In its favour, this movie does at least attempt to raise the issue of the plight currently facing the world's tigers, not to mention the countless other species the world over threatened by human hunting and the loss of habitat to make way for human civilization's expansion. For this, it isn't a complete loss.

Two Brothers has cute tigers, some amusing scenes, and a bit of a message. If that's all you want, you'll probably enjoy it.