Two Brothers is a well-intentioned but, ultimately, dull family film bogged down by competely uninteresting human characters. Thankfully, the two moderately engaging leads (a couple of real live tigers) keep this adventure from being a complete wash.

Two Brothers is the story of two turn-of-the-century Cambodian tiger siblings who find themselves seperated as cubs and introduced to a world they never new existed. Much later, they are reunited as adults, but not in the best of circumstances.

Two Brothers was direced by Jean-Jaques Annaud, a film maker who is no stranger to pictures that feature wild animals as their stars (he made the breathtaking "The Bear" several years ago). Annaud does an expert job capturing these beautiful creatures in natural surroundings. The cinematography here is gorgeous (as are the stunning locations) and there are a couple of nifty little action sequences as well, including one in which a parent tiger tries to free his trapped cub while atop a speeding truck. It's a cute little homage to Indiana Jones albeit no quite as intense.

It's too bad there isn't a lively human character to speak of in the overly long Two Brothers. Guy Pearce can be an extraordinary actor, but you'd hardly know it by watching him here. This isn't so much a stab at this terrific actor as it is a knock on the misguided screenplay. The Bear focused more on it's title character. There was very little dialogue and human interaction to speak of. Two Brothers might have greatly benefited from this. Clearly, it's best moments are the one's that simply feature the tigers being tigers.

Two Brothers is also far too sappy, and blatantly lifts from Bambi and other such animal classics. (Look closely and you might find a wink to Jurassic Park.) Taking things even further, the picture has a bizarre "Gladiator" type sequence in which the two sibling tigers (who haven't seen each other in a long time) are forced to fight one another in a sort of feline version of Harry Potter's Quidditch match. After taking a couple of swipes at each other, they suddenly recognize one another thanks to a flashback sequence. I do believe this is the first time I recall seeing an animal have a flashback in a picture since that dog in Wes Craven's dreadful Hills Have Eyes 2.

I love films with animals. As I stated, I was a big fan of The Bear, and I also enjoyed that charming Dudley Moore narrarated Adventures of Milo and Otis. Two Brothers isn't awful, but I didn't find it nearly as endearing as those previously mentioned movies. I know this is merely meant as family entertainment, but this picture doesn't work it's magic in quite the same fashion. It is a film with moments, but I fear that it might actually put the little ones in the audience to sleep. Heck, it might even have the same affect on the adults.