AUTUMN AND THE BLACK JAGUAR

Here's the decision. This is a sweet, emotional adventure about a girl and a black jaguar she loves, filmed against some of the most stunning rainforest scenery you'll see this year. It honors kindness, compassion, friendship, family, and the courage to do the right thing — and it invites the whole family to marvel at the beauty of God's Creation.

But it comes with real weight. The film pedals a chronic, politically correct fear of environmental doom, and the preachy dialogue drags a good story down. Its 14-year-old heroine is rebellious, rude, disrespectful, and disobedient — sorry at the end, but with little to no consequence along the way. Add continuous peril, poachers shooting at children, a kidnapping under threat of death, and a few light profanities.

So: if your children are old enough to handle the peril and you're ready to talk back to the film's doom-mongering, this one's worth the trip. For very young or sensitive kids, wait.

Growing up in the Amazon Rainforest, young Autumn befriends an orphaned black jaguar she names Hope. Then tragedy strikes, and her grieving father moves the two of them to New York City.

Eight years later, Autumn — now a rebellious teenage climate activist — discovers that her jaguar and the whole rainforest are in danger from deforestation and animal trafficking. She runs away to the Amazon to help. But her quirky, anxiety-ridden science teacher insists on tagging along. What waits for them in the jungle is where the adventure truly begins.

Three stars, and here's what they mean. At its heart this is a tender, well-made story about a girl's love for an absolutely lovable jaguar, and it earns its emotion. The scenery is picturesque and wondrous — landscapes and creatures so beautiful you'll understand instantly why anyone would fight to protect them from greedy corporations and poachers. The jeopardy keeps things moving.

The flaws are tonal. The film is a bit heavy and preachy on politically correct climate-crisis environmentalism, and the story would be stronger without so much of the lecturing dialogue. The heroine's rudeness and rebellion, largely unpunished, grate as well. What remains is a genuinely good family adventure that keeps tripping over its own message.

This is a mixed film, and worth naming plainly. Its dominant frame is a pagan, strongly Romantic one, laced with politically correct elements that hammer a sense of impending climate doom. The narrative pushes a chronic fear of environmental catastrophe onto children — even having Autumn tell her teacher, "People need to know what's going on here, and they will know because you are teaching their children."

That's a real concern. Eco-anxiety among children and young people is widespread, and it can breed depression, guilt, anger, grief, and panic. Teaching kids to care for the world safely — and honestly, including the ways the modern world has worked to protect it — serves their growth and mental health far better than fearmongering.

Yet the film's negative content is genuinely mitigated by an appreciation for God's Creation, and by that appreciation it points somewhere good. It extols kindness, compassion, friendship, love, family, and bravery — the courage to do the right thing and fight for what's true. A wooden cross even stands at a mother's grave. There is beauty here to be stewarded, not merely feared.

Scripture calls us to that stewardship without the panic: the earth belongs to its Maker, and we tend it as trustees, not orphans. "The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof" (Psalm 24:1).

There's a lovable jaguar, real beauty, and a big heart underneath the lecturing. Older kids and teens who can handle the peril — and a family ready to talk back to the film's doom-mongering — will find it well worth the ride. So here's our answer, the same one we opened with: worth the trip — ages 10 and up. Choosing for younger ones tonight? Try our latest family-friendly picks.