By Geno McGahee
I love animal attack movies….well, I’m not such a fan of the crazy bad CGI low budget titles with enormous sharks or reptiles fighting each other, but a good animal attack movie is usually a good time. In the 2010 film “BURNING BRIGHT”, we have an unusual and rather silly animal attack movie, but it is still good nonetheless.
John Gaveneau (Garret Dillahunt) is opening a hotel with a safari theme and needs some animals. He’s already got an orangutan and a few other animals, but he is about to add a tiger. That’s when he meets up with Meat Loaf. I can’t handle Meat Loaf in a movie because whatever role he plays, I know it’s Meat Loaf. If they are going to put him into a movie, the other actors must say: “Did anyone ever tell you that you look just like Meat Loaf?” Then he will reply: “All the time buddy.” Then you have established that this character looks like Meat Loaf, but is not Meat Loaf. You see how that works?
John buys the tiger from Meat Loaf and drives it home, where an angry stepdaughter is waiting for him. Kelly Taylor (Briana Eviagan) is upset with her stepdad because he spent her money on the tiger and now she cannot send her younger autistic brother, Tom (Charlie Tahan) to a special school for his needs. There is an ongoing dispute between John and the kids over money. John’s wife, their mother, committed suicide and the money has been used primarily by John and that has left Kelly in a bind. She wants to go to college but can’t as long as she has the needy Tom at her side.
A hurricane is headed toward the area and John covers all of the windows with wood, but as the storm hits, his plan is revealed. He releases the tiger in the house with the two kids locked in. Kelly gets a glimpse of the tiger and now tries to get Tom to follow her instructions and find an exit, but John has boarded up everything, including the doors. They are locked in with a vicious and hungry tiger.
Tom is a huge pain in the ass in this situation. He is constantly roaming away, screaming, and trying to pet the tiger on occasion. Kelly, to her credit, does not throw him to the tiger. She continues to save him and use her intelligence to survive the tiger attacks.
The tiger is CGI in the attacks, but it looks pretty good. I had read that this movie was very intense, but it was just so silly that I never found that edge. Tom was also a major distraction and very annoying. This film would have been better without that character, but they wanted to make Kelly’s dilemma that much more difficult.
BURNING BRIGHT is a predictable animal attack movie, but it is a good time. I recommend this flick, especially if you like tigers and Meat Loaf and if you will do anything for love.
Rating: 7/10