EATEN BY LIONS: British Comedy Is A Wonderful Tale Of Brotherly Love

Writer-director Jason Wingard packages a deliciously silly and colorful comedy with Eaten by Lions, which happens to be well-intentioned enough to leave any viewer with a heart happy with the result. But beneath the sprightliness, lies another road trip movie coasting through the motions, but spotlighting two stars, Antonio Aakeel and Jack Carroll, whose chemistry is contagiously vigorous.

It’s not the first time where two everyday people (who are commonly distinct) venture on a journey across the country together, and in the process, encounter one too many problems. Usually, these “problems” are more like highly colored obstacles: whether it be a thief stealing the travelers’ cash while they’re sleeping in a drab motel, or one’s suitcase containing their money falls off the car, or in this case, the suitcase gets swallowed by the sea. These road trip movies have far too many detours, some of which are visibly inflated, but who wants a boring, grounded road trip, where the skeevy little children complain about the distance and where the parents contemplate on when to stop, if at all.

Omar (Antonio Aakeel) is a teenager of South Asian background who has been living with his gran and his half-brother Pete (Jack Carroll) ever since their mom and dad (strictly Pete’s dad) died in an unusual accident: the couple’s hot-air balloon crashed in a safari park, and you guessed it, they were eaten by lions. Orphaned half-brothers Omar and Pete are each other’s family. All they need is each other — although, they once needed their Gran (Stephanie Fayerman) as well. After the recent death of their Grandma, the one who took them in, devoutly, and kept them together when social services wanted to split them apart, Omar and Pete evaluate their new circumstances.

Unfortunately, their new circumstances aren’t that great, especially for Omar. They’re forced to stay with their racist Aunt Ellen (Vicki Pepperdine) and Uncle Ken (Kevin Eldon), but Ellen and Ken are only willing to adopt Pete. A frustrated and dubious Omar decides he wants to find his biological father. Pete tags along on Omar’s quest to find Omar’s dad and probe his absence in Omar’s life. Knowing Omar’s father resides somewhere in Blackpool, Omar and Pete infiltrate the lives of the Choudray family, who are currently celebrating an engagement party. Omar wants answers, and Pete wants to support his brother, and what’s left is a conventional road trip comedy upheld by an endearing brother relationship at the core.

Conventionality Nourished By Brotherly Love

After a wonderfully artistic title intro, compiling sketches and drawings of lifeful memories, a grief-stricken Omar strolls into his Grandma’s apartment, reminiscing all of the memories made in these confined walls. It’s made perfectly clear Omar and Pete’s beloved Grandma passed away, and a close-up shot of Omar illustrates how accepting and embracing she was of him. Pete has cerebral palsy, but it’s foolish to think that’ll stop Omar from having boatloads of fun with Pete. Right from the start, Omar and Pete are convincingly close brothers, sharing each other’s grief and acknowledging how Gran wanted them to stay together, no matter what. Wingard gives us a friendship and sibling bond outlining how it’s always vital to have somebody in your life to share your trauma and penitence with. Social connection is crucial to understanding other perspectives, but also yourself. Sometimes it can be difficult to know what you’re feeling, but when you have a true-blue friend, or in this instance, a dependable brother, it all feels a bit easier.

During a flashback in which Omar and Pete’s Gran is laying on her death bed, she articulates an emblematic short story to make sure Omar and Pete always stay in each other’s lives. She describes a helpless and hungry dog, and how it’s faced with a comminatory wolf, whose words are those of a duplicitous master. The wolf promises he’ll supply food and refuge, but the dog denies the offer because the dog knows better. “I would rather be starving and free than fat and a slave,” is what Gran emphasizes, hoping Omar and Pete know better than to fall victim to any trivial argument or situation, which will physically or emotionally push them away from one another. And their sibling relationship keeps this comedy afloat, even when scenes and supporting characters fall short.

Twenty minutes in and after their Gran’s death, the bigoted Uncle and Aunt are welcoming Pete into their home, but deserting Omar in the process (mainly because of his ethnicity), and this leaves Omar feeling rejected and lost. But Gran told Omar the whereabouts of his father before passing away, and this journey to Blackpool is personal and precarious. Who knows what Omar will find? Well, crashing an engagement party and erroneously condemning the wrong man for his parental negligence is certainly unexpected, while also being uproarious. Omar’s frivolous and puerile-like father, Irfan (Asim Chaudhry), then casually walks on the scene of a family engagement party gone south, only to be utterly shocked to discover he has a son. Omar tries to fit in with his new family, but of course, there are hiccups causing his relationship with his father harder to sustain, without propelling Pete to feel sidelined. Regrettably, the father-son relationship of Omar and Irfan holds minimal weight, but it’s still rollicking enough to produce a chuckle or two.

Does their adventure occasionally go overboard? Of course, it does: their money is swept up by the sea, their clothes are deliberately soaked and aren’t able to dry in time (so behold a wardrobe tailored in zany colors and disorienting stripes), and absurd romances disrupt the flow of their journey. The perilous road trip does steer toward embroidery. But, against the numbing and off-the-map romances, which includes a pink-haired girl named Amy (Sarah Hoare) and the electively wordless girl named Parveen (Natalie Davies), there’s robust humor to it all. The supporting characters inherit contrasting personalities — Amy is intrinsically benevolent, Parveen is covertly reckless and Irfan is a man-child — but there’s restricted screen time for them to showcase such seemingly enticing attributes. Thankfully, the sibling connection at the center is lovingly dealt with.

Family Is Complicated

Whether it be half or full, a brother is a brother, and a sister is a sister. Family relations can be determined when looking at them in a genetic sense, but it’s frequently more complicated because genetics mean nothing if your genetically-related family members refuse to be in your life. In Eaten by Lions, Omar’s dad, Irfan, never knew he existed. In a failed attempt to run away, and abruptly saying “I don’t want a son,” Irfan slowly wrestles with the idea. Unfortunately, in such a limited runtime, Irfan’s evolving attitude is misprized. Despite the swiftness of Irfan’s efforts to potentially become a father, there are still layers to Irfan’s character, but not enough about him is unveiled. “But I’m a sad clown bro,” is what Irfan expresses to Omar, but we don’t know much about him. I guess you could say Wingard is encompassing the woozy emotions Omar is weathering by not knowing much about Irfan quite yet — but through the years, Omar will get to know him better. It’s definitely a tender feeling, but I only wish we could experience such character development as well, but the odds for a sequel are not in our favor.

Omar and Pete are half-brothers, but they could even be friends and I would cognize their friendship on a deeper level. Sure, they fight and they (only for a moment) drift apart, but a family is made up of whoever is willing to stay by your side and embrace you for who you are. Wingard has a lot of weighty subject matter brewing beneath the blitheness of the piece. Whether it be xenophobia or disability, each thread tailors a broader image of family, and how no one should be anathematized or judged based on their race or health conditions when being considered for adoption, and in life in general. We’re different for a reason and we all deserve a family. Woefully, this isn’t a perfect world. Maximizing the use of the seashore setting, it only helps that Wingard arranges slick camerawork and a light tone to weigh in on more heavy issues (although the slapstick comedy does get in the way).

Eaten By Lions Inherits Comical Mischief & A Beating Heart

At the end of the day, Eaten by Lions is a feel-good movie, but not so much in a fashion that feels terribly hackneyed. The comedy is too sharply silly and the characters are too lovable to detest. Granted, I am talking about a movie where the parents get eaten by actual lions (you don’t see it, of course, but the facts are there, living up to the movie’s blunt title), but life can sometimes be weird. Through all of the mischief that increasingly grows more outrageous, Wingard establishes empathy, concern and a beating heart, capable of tempting the likes of viewers.

Laudably juggling xenophobia, disability and an irresistible sibling bond, Wingard is able to dredge up a lot of significant topics, even if he lets the inane antics get in the way of exploring its themes and several of the supporting characters. Eaten by Lions will not consume your time and leave you hungry for more effective entertainment, it’ll fill the void with laughs and wacky characters worth rooting for, and it just so happens to be a wonderful tale of brotherly love and multiculturalism.

What is your favorite British comedy? What is your favorite road trip movie? Let us know in the comments!

Eaten by Lions was released in the UK on March 29, 2019 and on VOD July 22, 2019.