Celebrate World Elephant Day with Phoenix Wilder
When my son was young, he loved elephants. Naturally, his favorite movie was Dumbo. Since that time, he's enjoyed learning more about these majestic, African mammals. April 16th happens to be World Elephant Day, and this year you and your family can celebrate by heading out to your local movie theater for the premier of Phoenix Wilder: And the Great Elephant Adventure. It's a special one-night event that will make for a memorable way to celebrate elephants!
Disclosure: I received free access to this movie and was compensated for my time in reviewing it. All of my thoughts are my own. See my full disclosure for more details.
Phoenix Wilder: And the Great Elephant Adventure
After losing his parents in a car accident, 13-year-old Phoenix Wilder moves to southern Africa to live with his aunt and uncle. He quickly falls in love with the wild surroundings, and excitedly heads off on a safari adventure with his uncle. Unfortunately, he doesn't get briefed on safari safety from his uncle, and wanders off following a young meerkat.
Alone in the African bush, Phoenix Wilder has to figure out how to survive on his own. When he frees a trapped bull elephant, he makes a true friend and finds a new mission in life: to stop the poachers that are endangering the animals.
Filled with danger, beautiful vistas, and the love of family, Phoenix Wilder: And the Great Elephant Adventure offers educational entertainment the whole family can enjoy.
In addition to the feature content, audiences will enjoy two exclusive interviews featuring star Elizabeth Hurley (“Austin Powers,” “Bedazzled”) and renowned elephant conservationist Richard Leakey.
Movie highlights:
- We loved the beautiful scenery and specifically watching the baby elephant play and run.
- It was also very educational to learn about the intensity of elephant poaching, and how activists helped drastically reduce the rate of elephant poaching by raising awareness.
- I appreciated seeing the virtue presented as several characters redeem themselves as they change their mind about the illegal lives they're living and strive to do what is right.
Parent Alerts:
- While this movie is fun for the whole family, there are some intense scenes with the poachers and their guns.
- Phoenix Wilder also offers great conversational opportunities about survival safety and awareness while in unfamiliar places.
Watch the trailer to get an idea about this great story, and reserve your tickets for this one day event.
Celebrating World Elephant Day at Home
Since we had the opportunity to preview this film in advance, we decided to make an event out of it! My nieces and nephew were over, and I decided to enlist my talented niece to create an elephant inspired snack bar for our movie premiere.
Her menu items included:
- White chocolate dipped Nutter Butter cookies (super yum!)
- Elephant inspired hot dogs (she carved them out of lightly grilled hot dogs and stuck them together with toothpicks!)
- Elephant rice crispy treats (We saw these cute cookie cutters on Amazon, but couldn't find them in our local store. That didn't stop my niece. She found a tea pot cookie cutter, turned it upside down, and created her own version of an elephant. It was brilliant!)
- Circus peanuts (I really enjoyed watching each kid's reaction to these old candies)
- Peanut flavored trail mix (this had Resee's pieces included...yum!)
- Popcorn
- Pretzels
She put it all together on the table in our library and decorated with my daughter's succulents and my son's elephant treasures he's collected over the years.
While she was getting the food ready, I dug out the projector. My husband rigged up a simple PVC pipe movie screen stand, and we threw a king-sized sheet over it.
When I connected the audio to my little portable speaker, it really felt like a movie theater and we were ready for business.
It's important to take time to create memories with your kids that offer opportunities to laugh together as well as become more aware of what is going on around the world. I'm sure this movie would be much more stunning on the big screen, but we enjoyed it in our little makeshift movie theater!
Win Tickets to Take Your Family to See Phoenix Wilder
Enter to win 5 tickets to see Phoenix Wilder: And the Great Elephant Adventure on April 16th, 2018 in a theater near you. 20 winners will get 5 passes to see the movie at closest theater to them. The giveaway begins 03/11/2018 10:00 pm and ends 03/28/2018 03:00 am.
Follow Phoenix Wilder on social media to stay up to date on their elephant adventures!
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Betsy Strauss is an unexpected homeschooler, mother of three, who is in a relationship with a sweet man for life. She loves reading books, drinking coffee, and learning anything with her kids.
Sounds like fun! Thank you for sharing, Betsy!