Our young person's correspondent Max Driver scratches beneath the surface in his review of Heidi – Rescue of the Lynx.
It’s a tale as old as time. A charming but ultimately sinister stranger shows up in an otherwise happy town and woos the locals with grand plans of modernisation. You’ve seen it in the classic Simpsons episode Marge vs. the Monorail, which itself was based on 1962’s con man classic The Music Man. When a crook arrives to swindle the citizens, a new hero needs to step forward. In Heidi – Rescue of the Lynx, the latest animated offering from the writer of The Queen’s Corgi and Gnomeo & Juliet, and the studio behind worldwide hit franchises Maya the Bee and Mia and Me, a little girl from the Swiss Alps is that hero.
Eight-year-old Heidi lives in the mountains with her grumpy grandad. One day, a mysterious entrepreneur arrives in her village, showing off his newfangled automobile (Heidi is set in the 1880s) and promising the sun, moon and stars to the locals. When the town is beset by dangerous wildcats, he steps in and builds traps to impress the villagers. He almost seems too good to be true! When Heidi is exploring nature with her friend Peter, she finds a trapped lynx kitten. She rescues the cute creature and nurses it back to health. The mysterious stranger, leveraging his goodwill, goes around town with a petition to permit a new sawmill (his ultimate goal), and Heidi’s grandfather is the only one not to sign it, causing a rivalry between the mystery man and the grandad. Heidi and her friend Peter go to release their lynx into the wild, and the plot truly thickens.
A charming, familiar animation style (think Pixar and DreamWorks) is used to great effect and really lets the story shine. The animals are rendered with maximum cuteness and will appeal to younger audiences. The pacing is perfect, with the story moving along briskly throughout the 1 hour and 15 minutes runtime, a welcome relief from the modern standard of two hours or more. The direction is a perfect match for the subject matter, and the classic editing and scoring techniques provide strong support for the story.
Is it really worth giving up an environmentally friendly way of life just so we can have new inventions? All of the finite natural resources that go into modern technology, and the deforestation that allegedly has to happen to give us a better way of life, leaves our world battered and bruised. This film is set in the 1880s, and still the theme is a hot topic, with even back then the deforestation of the beautiful mountain range and the pollution from new forms of transport being key plot points.
And while the film focuses explicitly on environmental themes, perhaps there’s an even bigger point being made. It would be uncouth of me to name names, but I bet you can easily think of people who’ve promised us a better life if we’d just adopt their political ideology or technology platform. This subtle layering of themes makes Heidi a compelling and valuable watch for young and old alike.
With so many challenges facing the planet and its inhabitants today, there can never be enough noise made about how we can all do better to help each other. Heidi – Rescue of the Lynx has the power to reach a younger audience in a meaningful way without being preachy, and is a great example of the role that film can play in building a better future for humanity. This film is perfect for all ages, a great twist on a classic tale, and a timely reminder that our planet needs us.
Heidi - Rescue of the Lynx is in cinemas 1st August 2025.
Max Driver is a young actor and writer who lives in Kilkenny with his family and two miniature poodles. He has been in the arts since a very young age, previously a vocalist, performing in the Kings Theatre and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City, and is currently studying acting at the Lir Academy in Dublin. A keen cinephile, Max runs a monthly movie review newsletter for friends and family, and is otherwise obsessing over his top four on Letterboxd.
