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    Movie Review

    Cuteness of animals can't save uninspiring The Wolf and the Lion

    Alex Bentley
    Feb 4, 2022 | 12:15 pm
    Young animals in The Wolf and the Lion.play icon
    Young animals in The Wolf and the Lion.
    Photo courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment

    Live-action movies that focus on animals are almost by definition designed to be highly emotional. From Free Willy to Homeward Bound to the progenitor of the genre, Old Yeller, if an animal is at the center of the story, then viewers are virtually guaranteed to be crying by the end of the film.

     

    That’s the expectation at the outset of The Wolf and the Lion, in which Alma (Molly Kunz) returns home for her grandfather’s funeral in the Canadian wilderness. Through highly unusual circumstances (a nearby plane crash, a spooked she-wolf who had trusted her grandfather), she finds herself suddenly in possession of both a lion cub and a wolf pup. Learning that the lion was meant to go to a circus, she decides to keep them instead of turning the younglings over to animal control.

     

    In another film, showing Alma bond with the animals and the animals bonding with each other would be priority number one. While there are plenty of cute shots of the animals palling around, director Gilles de Maistre and writer Prune de Maistre for some reason add on a number of other subplots, including Alma pursuing a career as a pianist, two men (Charlie Carrick and Derek Johns) trying to save endangered snow wolves, an over-the-top circus owner trying to find the lion, and more.

     

    Not only does this divided attention de-emphasize the relationship between Alma and the animals, but it also makes the filmmakers fast-forward the story in odd ways. Months sometimes pass in a flash, with little explanation as to why that choice was made. Little attempt is made to flesh out anyone’s backstory, so it’s difficult to get invested in any of the characters. This is obviously a low-budget film made with earnestness, so the filmmakers should be afforded a degree of slack, but there are only so many times they can fail to connect the dots before it becomes too much.

     

    Along those lines is the poor acting. Kunz, who has a decent filmography going, is okay, but the weird story choices hinder her. Graham Greene, who was nominated for an Oscar in 1991, co-stars as a family friend, but his small part gives him almost nothing to work with. The other actors all come off as very stilted, something that likely can be chalked up to the filmmakers not knowing how to get good performances out of them instead of them all being bad actors.

     

    Also strange is the use of live animals. The film industry has increasingly gone away from using live animals, and one of the film’s subplots explicitly talks about how bad it is to cage wild animals, so relying on actual animals seems to be off-brand. The filmmakers seem to have a recent focus on films featuring big cats, which might be part of a larger agenda, but that doesn’t come across in this story.

     

    If the aim of The Wolf and the Lion was to be inspirational, it fails miserably. The filmmakers take too many shortcuts and don’t pay enough attention to their characters to warrant the audience caring about anything that happens in the film.

     

    ---

     

    The Wolf and the Lion is now playing in theaters.

    Young animals in The Wolf and the Lion.

    Young animals in The Wolf and the Lion
      
    Photo courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment
    Young animals in The Wolf and the Lion.
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    Comedy News

    Comedy chain Punch Line to open at Toyota Music Factory in Irving

    Teresa Gubbins
    Jul 14, 2025 | 5:46 pm
    Punch Line San Francisco
    Punch Line
    Punch Line San Francisco

    A renowned comedy club is coming to Dallas-Fort Worth: Punch Line, a nationwide club chain founded in San Francisco, will open a DFW location at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, at 310 W. Las Colinas Blvd. #130, taking over a prominent storefront that was previously home to a series of Brazilian steakhouses, next door to the TMF box office.

    According to a representative, the venue will open in the fall.

    This will be a fifth location of Punch Line, joining the original in San Francisco, along with Philadelphia, Sacramento, and Houston, which opened in 2024. The Dallas opening is part of a partnership with Live Nation Entertainment.

    Punch Line Comedy Club opened in San Francisco in 1978 and over the years has helped launch the careers of comedy legends such as Robin Williams, Dana Carvey, Ellen DeGeneres, and Drew Carey.

    "For 40-plus years, Punch Line has been home to comedy’s heavyweights — and now we're bringing that knockout energy to DFW, from top-tier national headliners to the rising stars right here in Texas," the club promises.

    The Dallas venue will feature comedy’s biggest names, open mic nights and showcases for DFW talent, a front-row seat to the next big thing in stand-up, plus the "intimate, classic Punch Line vibe."

    The chain offers food and beverage including fancy cocktails like prickly pear margaritas and a Tito's espresso martini. There’s a two-beverage minimum per person.

    The food menu is heavy on shareables like nachos, loaded fries, spinach-artichoke dip, Bavarian pretzel, and flatbreads such as the one with basil pesto, mozzarella, feta, and balsamic glaze.

    Dallas has always had a healthy comedy club scene, with stalwarts like the Improv; homegrown favorites like the Dallas Comedy House in Deep Ellum and TK's in Plano; and newcomers like Mic Drop Comedy in Plano.

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