A baby elephant named Whispers finds himself separated from his mother. On his search to find her, he pairs up with an outcast from another herd and together they brave the wilds of Africa.A baby elephant named Whispers finds himself separated from his mother. On his search to find her, he pairs up with an outcast from another herd and together they brave the wilds of Africa.A baby elephant named Whispers finds himself separated from his mother. On his search to find her, he pairs up with an outcast from another herd and together they brave the wilds of Africa.
Angela Bassett
- Groove
- (voice)
Joanna Lumley
- Half Tusk
- (voice)
Anne Archer
- Gentle Heart
- (voice)
Debi Derryberry
- Whispers
- (voice)
Alice Ghostley
- Tuskless
- (voice)
Betty White
- Round
- (voice)
Kat Cressida
- Princess
- (voice)
Joan Rivers
- Spike
- (voice)
John DiMaggio
- Tough-Tusk
- (voice)
- …
Tone Loc
- Macho Bull
- (voice)
Jeannie Elias
- Stranger
- (voice)
- …
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFilmed in Botswana over a period of 18 months.
- SoundtracksGreat Heart
from Johnny Clegg & Savuka
Lyrics by unknown author
Featured review
Watch a nature programme instead
When still very young, little elephant Whispers gets separated from his mother while they both flee from hunters. Whispers gets found by a group of elephants and forces himself under the wing of Groove - who wants to be more independent and find herself. The two set off on their quest to find Whispers' mother but the dangers of the jungle are never far away, whether they be man or beast.
Stuck with several options for children's' movies on a UK bank holiday, I plumed to put this one on simply on the basis of the voice cast involved. The plot is the usual fare with `cute' baby elephant hunting for mother with a bigger, more cynical companion. The thin plot is only used to show the obstacles facing elephants in the wild and to do so in a cute sort of way that will win children over to the animals. In this regard I had to wonder why anyone would turn to this film for this purpose alone. A National Geographic show will look as good as this does and also show the elephants without having to give them voices and comedy characters. If I had the choice over I'd pick a different movie for children or pick a wildlife show for stuff about elephants. The material is not very funny and doesn't really engage, thus leaving it's value as one of the footage - something that a wildlife programme would do as well.
The footage doesn't really fit with the voices and there are no animatronic touches to help it mix. The result is that the voices feel very separate from the animals and takes away from the characters again making it harder to really care about them or get into the story. The very Babe-like Whispers is played by Derryberry (who's name alone deserves a mention!); she plays it a bit too cutesy but it's fitting for a Disney film. Bassett deserves better than this but her voice work is good even if it doesn't fit with the images (true of all the characters). Lumley thinks this is below her and you can hear it in her voice, Archer is hard to catch, White is a weird addition but not as strange as Rivers, Tone Loc and Di Maggio. None of them manage to connect with the images onscreen and it is a problem that weakens the whole film.
Overall this is not a very good film as the plot is basic and the voice work is separate from the images, making the characters difficult to engage with. The film looks great and has tonnes of good nature footage but there are better places to go to get this, leaving the film rather lacking in any specific value and only having the stars and the name Disney to attract those to it.
Stuck with several options for children's' movies on a UK bank holiday, I plumed to put this one on simply on the basis of the voice cast involved. The plot is the usual fare with `cute' baby elephant hunting for mother with a bigger, more cynical companion. The thin plot is only used to show the obstacles facing elephants in the wild and to do so in a cute sort of way that will win children over to the animals. In this regard I had to wonder why anyone would turn to this film for this purpose alone. A National Geographic show will look as good as this does and also show the elephants without having to give them voices and comedy characters. If I had the choice over I'd pick a different movie for children or pick a wildlife show for stuff about elephants. The material is not very funny and doesn't really engage, thus leaving it's value as one of the footage - something that a wildlife programme would do as well.
The footage doesn't really fit with the voices and there are no animatronic touches to help it mix. The result is that the voices feel very separate from the animals and takes away from the characters again making it harder to really care about them or get into the story. The very Babe-like Whispers is played by Derryberry (who's name alone deserves a mention!); she plays it a bit too cutesy but it's fitting for a Disney film. Bassett deserves better than this but her voice work is good even if it doesn't fit with the images (true of all the characters). Lumley thinks this is below her and you can hear it in her voice, Archer is hard to catch, White is a weird addition but not as strange as Rivers, Tone Loc and Di Maggio. None of them manage to connect with the images onscreen and it is a problem that weakens the whole film.
Overall this is not a very good film as the plot is basic and the voice work is separate from the images, making the characters difficult to engage with. The film looks great and has tonnes of good nature footage but there are better places to go to get this, leaving the film rather lacking in any specific value and only having the stars and the name Disney to attract those to it.
helpful•24
- bob the moo
- May 4, 2004
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Whispers - den lille elefanten
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $4,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 12 minutes
- Sound mix
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
![Debi Derryberry in Whispers: An Elephant's Tale (2000)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzZhN2FjM2MtYTYxMS00MjkyLWI4YWYtMjEzZjYxMzYwZjM1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTIwMjk5NTky._V1_QL75_UY133_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg)
Top Gap
By what name was Whispers: An Elephant's Tale (2000) officially released in Canada in English?
Answer