Fri, Apr 25, 8:30PM
Sat, May 03, 11:00AM
Sun, May 04, 10:15AM

Can you believe tomorrow is almost upon us. The first showing of Flower's beautiful life, Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins.

May the night be as sublime as one in the Kalahari Desert, resplendent in all its glory; may what you see fill you with the wonderment and beauty of our beloved Flower, her extrordinary and enthralling life, our own Whiskers and all the Kalahari scurries.

Our hearts and tears will be with you when the inevitable heartwrenching moment is once again seen.

Take all of our spirits with you.

I am so happy for those who will be able to be present at this stupendous event, this lovely film, ♥♥♥ The Magic of Flower. ♥♥♥

A few weeks ago, Melbacake mentioned that she plans to attend. I hope it works out for her, so she can share her details with us.

So is there anyone else from this forum who plans to attend? We need more New Yorkers on here.

Thank you for this thread ccatz.

THE MAGIC OF FLOWER

Our little Kalahari Queen lives in our hearts.

"A living soul means we shall be somewhere forever."
THIS IS FLOWER'S PLACE
Remembering our Little Rose
Goodnight Sweet Flower

I'm actually hoping the movie covers her life only until MM begins. That way I can forget about Journey's End a bit and she will continue to live in the same way Uncle Youssie, Shakespeare, and Tosca do. After all, if there is no body at the end of the episode, do they ever really die?

Oh ZTM I do so hope you are right. This is what Moviefone on AOL is saying:

Based on the groundbreaking show Meerkat Manor, which followed the lives of a family of Meerkats living in the Kalahari desert, this film pays tribute to Flower, the matriarch of the family on the series. Just as on the show, the movie combines traditional nature footage with dramatic narration, telling Flower's story from her birth, up until the time of her tragically early death. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

But what I am looking forward to most is what Mick K had to say:

"Everything in the movie is original -- originally shot. It is the prequel to the series, "Meerkat Manor,"........"

We will see Baby Flower!

You pose an interesting question that I cannot even begin to answer. I do not have that capability, but we have seen a body on the Meerkat Manor; she lives within us.

Tosca, I can only hope. Shakes, Uncle Youssy, they are out there. I know it.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:

up until the time of her tragically early death.

I wish we could edit,

UP UNTIL her death, maybe we won't actually experience it again.

Melba.................!

ccatz:

I agree... until her death...what does it mean?I hope and pray that they show up until the words....for now the 40 strong Whiskers can dominate the Kalahari. In this time of plenty, with order restored, it could be the start of Flower's greatest era....and then they could add Sean Astin's touching words:

For four years Flower was the Whiskers faithful dominant. From humble beginnings she created one of the largest close-knit families on the manor. She was a formidable leader and a noble mother.....I think from there we would get the picture. There could be something written as an epilogue stating Flower's passing with her birthdate and passing date notated on the screen with the beautiful silhouette of her face with the candle lit beside her.......and then fade out....

Sorry, got caught up in the moment here...

Janelle

Hopefully someone will post what it all means after tonight...and what was shown up until... Do you think that they will post it on here?

I hope "someone" posts, but most likely it would be on the Spoiler or so I would think.

I can feel the spirits of the night.

c9691, now I'm crying again. Your ending was the BOMB! Please, keep getting caught up in the moment.

Hi ccatz! Yes, the spirits of the night! 'Nuf sayd!

Dear Flower:
"A living soul means we shall be somewhere forever."

Now that the movie is coming closer to me seeing it; I have tears all over again. I wonder if it will be hard to see flower as a pup knowing she is gone from this world as I know it. Yet maybe I will be happy seing the movie, knowing that they actually made it because so many of us fell in love with her. And what a great queen she was and hopefully is on the other side.
Alyse

Sorry if this is a downer, but I'd take that "originally shot" comment with a shaker of salt.

I'm guessing what he meant by that was that all of the footage is "new," as in, "isn't from any of the episodes of Meerkat Manor." Flower was born in early 2000, and 1st season of Meerkat Manor didn't air til 2004, which means it was probably filmed mostly in 2003. So in order to film baby Flower, they would have to have had movie crews out in the Kalahari 3 years before even putting the show into production, or probably even thinking "let's make a show about meerkats." That seems unlikely to me.

I think the footage is probably new to us but probably shows other meerkats doing things that approximate Flower's life and interactions with other meerkats before the part of her life that was covered by the show. In any case, I'm sure it will be fun and entertaining and educational (and sometimes sad) to watch.

Contact call!!!!!!! To anyone who saw the movie at Tribeca, please tell us about it! I'm having a very hard time waiting for news...

Documentaries about meerkats were filmed in the KMP before MM, and I'm sure researchers and volunteers videotaped the meerkat groups before MM, so there is some older footage, probably of the Whiskers, as well.

Totally agree zettak....I can't imagine a researcher worth his weight in choco-scorpions, NOT documenting on film from day one. I know it is out there and do feel it can be woven into the film, hopefully!

Where or where are our premiere attendees? Can it be true no one was present for Flower's debut this past Friday? Must we wait until next weekend?

Horrors! I am with you kach5503.

I searched online this morning, but found only this.

"Here's the most annoying thing about the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival so far (and I hate to start off my first "live" post with a complaint, but it must come out): There's a rule this year that says the press cannot file the review of a world premiere until it's screened for the public. This is pretty ridiculous no matter how you look at it; if anything, if your film is playing a festival alongside hundreds of other films, you kinda want to take a chance on an early review in order to get people to come to the screenings. Not only regular moviegoers, but buyers too. Sure, a bad review may screw you if it comes out prior to the film screening, but regardless that same bad review will turn up eventually -- so does it really matter when it hits? "

Also The jurors for the 2008 World Documentary Competition are Jared Cohen, Whoopi Goldberg, Ross Kauffman, Padma Lakshmi and Jose Padilha.

Must not be the MM docu-drama catagory.

From horakhti73's movie announcement

"The movie chronicles Flower’s life story, beginning with her birth in the Kalahari Desert through her tragic death that came years too soon."

Sorry I re-read it.

Like Ccatz, I searched the internet for details about the movie premiere. I did find some pictures taken at the premiere on the Getty Images website.

Since we haven't heard much from the Tribecca premier, I was glad to find these 24 photos from the MM movie premiere. Click on any of them to open a large slideshow window. WOOHOO!

Click Here For Blissful Relief

Picture 7 shows the layout; Picture 9 shows an image from the movie; Who is speaking in picture 20?

WCM:

Thank you for finding this. I tried to see who it was that was talking, but I cannot make it out. Seeing the faces painted on everyone is so cute and the Meerkat fan faces. Looks familiar?

A little more movie news...

The DVD will be released in widescreen format. Some scenes were filmed by helicopter to keep up with the action. Also, Target & Amazon seem to have the best pre-order pricing at $13.99

I really hope this is also released on Blu-ray...

Here is a review I found:

http://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/85365/meerk...he-story-begins.html

Not a lot of detail, but good. I wish I had been there.

Thank you WCM as someone I know said recently...You must have felt like you found buried treasure.

For some reason I can relax a little bit now.

Great ninjamom1 Knew something would show up. Now we just have to hear from our littermates who have the opportunity to see it.

FWIW, 5 people on IMDB have rated it 10/10 - WooHoo! No comments though, darn it. On Sunday only 2 people had voted, so they are dribbling in. See it here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1204315/

I haven't had much luck otherwise. It will be great when people finally speak up.

3 more top ratings (yep, I'm desperate ) but no reviews:

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/453281/Meerkat-Manor-The-Story-Begins/overview -- 1 5/5 rating

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810009668/info -- 2 A+ ratings

Good morning kach5503 and thanks for keeping us informed! I know that none of us here are surprised by top ratings. I know that a lot of people are looking for good movies that the family can go to. What is wrong with this Weinstein Company? Hopefully this will give them the intestinal fortitude to release this film, they have a HIT on their hands.
Takd care, Flotosbea

Ccatz, PLEASE, what can we do to get this film in theaters? The "unseen trend" toward this type of film that I speak of has spoken for itself once again.

This Weinstein Company has a blockbuster on their hands and they sit on their hands!?!?!?

WHAT CAN WE DO????

Nuzzles,
Flotosbea