“What can I say; she’s a year old teenage girl.” ~ Tom Newman
“She is scarier than thing any out there. I promise you that,” ~ Amy

Nature - the beautiful safari and the “harmless” animals should make for the perfect vacation in the wilds of South Africa. Tom Newman, played by Robocop Peter Weller, takes his family on a working trip to South Africa. The vacation starts off shaky enough as his two children Jess (Carly Schroeder) and David (Conner Dowds) are less than thrilled with Amy, (Bridget Monynahan) their dad’s new wife. Jess, of course, wants their dad to reunite with their mom, so needless to say she makes her feelings known.

One day, dad has to work so the rest of the family heads off on a game drive with their tour guide. In an attempt to impress the unimpressed kids, the guide suddenly veers off the road to show them some “real animals.” Who knew that a potty break could go so horribly wrong? In a sudden attack, the guide is killed by attacking animals and Amy and the kids are stranded with no food or water at the mercy of stalking lions and tigers. As the temperature starts to soar, the situation gets desperate, even as the Tom struggles to put together a rescue mission to find his family.

If you’re not into animal violence, however, be forewarned that the opening scenes are extremely graphic, showing the lions and tigers killing and eating a zebra. In fact, many of the animal scenes can be brutally disturbing. This movie is definitely not intended for kids.

Great movie moments – There were several “edge of the seat” moments that had me wondering if the family would make it out alive. In addition, if you like movies with predictable story lines, this movie will definitely not disappoint.

A few short-comings – Very little is shared about the characters so it’s hard to become emotionally vested in any of the characters that are killed. The big game hunter that Newman hires to help find his family is less then believable. I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out why the killer animals were after Amy and the kids, but yet Newman and the game hunter camped out on the same reserve, relatively safely. As far as acting, I think that Peter Weller did a much better job in his role as Robocop then he did as an affectionate, caring father in Prey.

Overall, if you like animal attack, thriller movies you will love Prey. I give this movie two out of five stars.

Director: Darrell James Roodt
Rating: R - Extreme violence, animals attacking and killing people
Runtime: 92 minutes
Release Date: 12 April 2007

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Prey