The Mighty Beaver

 

Get your heads out of the gutter because I am talking about Canada’s emblem, the mighty beaver, that has turned 50 years old on March 24th. To be honest, I thought our beaver was older than that since l was 11 years old when the Beaver got the royal treatment. In honour of this  mighty rodent with the ever growing teeth and flat tail, I found 3 movies that has the beaver as the highlight.

1. THE BEAVER VALLEY-1950

I saw this when The Wonderful World of Disney was a staple at 7pm on Sundays with Walt Disney hosting (from beyond the grave) the hour long program. I know I watched this back then and was totally enthralled at how exciting Disney created this short documentary which won an Oscar! The male does all he can to protect his family from the elements, fun loving otters and predators. I always loved watching animal shows from Disney to Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.

2. GREY OWL-1999

This film is quite a good movie that is directed by Sir Richard Attenborough and stars Pierce Brosnan as Archie Grey Owl who was a Canadian fur trapper who became involved with a young Iroquois woman. She is disgusted how animals slowly die in the traps and when, a beaver mom is trapped, the woman saves her 2 kits and rears them. The little beaver kits get under the skin of Archie and, with her help, he begins to see how wrong it is to trap animals especially the beaver that, in the 1930s, was endangered due to all the killing for its fur. He writes a book and is an early environmentalist becoming famous lecturing on the problem of over hunting and fishing especially the beaver. He even spoke in front of the British Royalty but it soon comes out that he is not Native to Canada at all. This is based on a true story which I never knew about until I watched this film. If you ever get a chance, you should see this film especially for the cute little beaver kits.

3. THE BEAVER-2011

Yes, this is one strange movie and one that was supposed to bring Mel Gibson back after his out of control downward spiral. Jodie Foster directed this movie and stars as Mel’s unhappy wife. He is the owner of a toy company ready to go tits up, his wife is leaving him and his son hates him( Anton Yelchin who, sadly died, in 2016). Mel finds this beaver sock puppet in the trash and starts wearing it and speaking only through the beaver puppet. It’s a bit odd but I can see how Jodie created this character and film for her friend, Mel Gibson. I’m not sure I would see it again but it was ok to see it, at least, once.

What rodent films have you seen?

I still miss Leslie Nielsen..