There's really no story, just a whacked-out man and his family tussling with lions over and over. People do get hurt making it. It was a vanity project that no one would fund, so they had to scrimp and save for 5 years to raise funds. Most of the cast cannot act. It's like a bad home movie, but with lions and other wild animals. The only interest is to see many of the pets of Tippi Hedren and family, including Melanie Griffith. Also of interest are the many appearances of Togare, the lion once owned as a pet by Satanist Anton LaVey.

Having seen this viceral masterpiece again after 35 years, when I was just a young nipper, it had quite the same amazing effect, as it did back then. No other movie, has touched me, the way this one has. Featuring a young Melanie Griffith who looks really hot in that black outfit, she's surrounded by a group of unknowns, although I knew Tippi Hendren, but I really didn't follow her, although I had seen The Harrad Experiment. The thing about this great film, which you can call many things, it's a family effort, and it pays off as one great exciting, thrilling, exciting, scary, amusing and beautifully though provoking film, especially as far an animal killing is concerned. The song/montage, that precedes the end credits, had me bordering on tears, where earlier when a couple of those lions were taking out by that bastard hunting duo, for me, when those hunters were killed, it was a grand revenge moment. The film as I remember was rated G, which I found enigmatic, considering the blood and violence spared, the hunter duo attack, especially. The story has the estranged father who lives, loves and has formed a deep bond with all his lions, where the way he talks and passionately communicates with his babies, in his racy overworked voice, is something unique, as is his character. As slipping his mind, about picking his family up, they visit his beautiful African hacienda paradise, only to be confronted by and subdued by the lions, aswarm, where these beautiful agile creatures steal the show. The film work done here, following them with dolly and tracking, and a lot of up, close and personal, but so intimate shots are wonderfully done, just watching these scene stealers again, was beautiful to the viewers eye. The soundtrack cassette I had from this, has great songs, the racy, "Wouldn't It Be Great" is my favorite though, and a none more perfect song to this opening of that grand film, "This Is My Land". Lion lover, Marshall in the lead provides some funny lines, like saying to one of the hunters, who's face is covered in blood "It's only a scatch". Marshall's character, too, sacrifices a couple of wounds and scrapes from his primal friends, who sometimes a bit rampant, and we see a few times, which I found a little unnerving, tigers going at each others. Roar can fall into a few categories. You don't know if you should be scared or not by these lovable, raging lions. It's like a getting to know someone message, and Roar certainly makes his stand on the relationship between beast and man. It actually hones out a few messages, but this is a one in an only movie experience, a remarkable film, you just can't watch once. If there's one film, they should bring back to the big Aussie screens, this would be it, though I wouldn't be happy with it being, remastered. Why tamper with excellence which this movie is. It's hypnotic, and unforgettable, and at the end, you'll feel completely drained, thanks to the lions, in one beautiful, touching ending.

Wow. This is by far one of the coolest--if not the coolest--flicks I have ever seen (and I've seen it 3 times so far); definitely one-of-a-kind, there are no others in its class to even liken it to.If labels are to be given, I believe "adventure" would be the most appropriate classification. I don't know who put "horror" up there in the listing, I'd sooner list it under "family" than "horror"; they may have been confused by some reports of what transpired during the filming of this movie, but those reports should not be confused with what happens in the movie itself.Set in the wild jungles of Africa, the left-of-center storyline is original and most unique (strokes to Noel Marshall for that). The filming is nothing short of awesome, the shots of merely the scenery are spectacular, and capturing on film the animals in action (including the humans) makes for some seriously breathtaking visuals. Tippi, Melanie, John, Jerry, you totally rock--thank you and thanks to everyone involved in the making of "Roar" for enduring and seeing it through to the end so we can all now enjoy it.I highly recommend seeing "Roar" at least one time; if you're a lover of the feline, perhaps 9 times would do. Me-ow.

ROAR is one of those rare films where the behind-the-scenes story is more interesting than the one up on screen. It's a would-be animal movie along the lines of BORN FREE about a normal American family coping with a house full of big cats, but the whole thing is so ridiculous in both execution and planning that it's a film which has gained infamy as one of the most dangerous in history.The problem lies with writer/director/star Noel Marshall, he of the wild hair and dubious acting talents. Marshall thought it would be a good idea to mix together a ton of different big cats, including a number of male lions, and throw them in with unprepared actors, including his wife Tippi Hedren and stepdaughter Melanie Griffiths. The resulting shooting schedule saw over 70 injuries to cast and crew, the most infamous of which was the director of photography, Jan De Bont, getting scalped.The enjoyment factor of this one is of the 'car crash' variety. Marshall is obviously a zealot who acts and sounds a lot like Timothy Treadwell, the doomed star of the Herzog documentary GRIZZLY MAN, who got a bit too close to the grizzly bears he was obsessed with and paid with his life. Nobody died during ROAR, but they came close. There isn't really a script here, just characters reacting to the big cats, and the only decent bit is the tense mid-section in which Hedren and her screen children attempt to evade the cats which are chasing them around the house (which is far better than the whole of the tiger-in-the-house thriller BURNING BRIGHT). Otherwise, it's just a case of watch and endure it.