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Created Aug 18, 2013 12:15PM PST • Edited Aug 19, 2013 01:12AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   The forests of Eastern Siberia look like the woods of North America. And yet they are radically different, being the home of wild Siberian tigers, the biggest of big cats. This brief NatGeo documentary gets up close and personal with these magnificent creatures, an awe inspiring experience for those of us who revere nature’s grandest animals.

   Click play on the nearby video to hear a tiger’s roar echo through the Siberian forest. That awe inspiring sound is the first of many such impressions Tigers of the Snow makes. Another comes from the close examination of a sedated tiger: squeezing out its huge cat claws and lifting its lip to see its massive teeth.

   Perhaps most thrilling is when the camera enters a tiger den, one of those primeval places that historically looms in the recesses of human imagination. Happily, the scientists find two ultra-cute tiger cubs there, which they successfully tag for future research.

   The documentary later visits a local hero who builds a large enclosure for a pair of non-wild tigers. The happenings within the enclosure are like a low-tech, benign Hunger Games.

   Animal lovers will find Tigers of the Snow an invigorating 55 minutes. They are wild, hear them roar.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   In addition to the Siberian tigers, the documentary follows several intrepid scientists, including one who must shoot a tiger with tranquilizer darts, a hunting feat of great skill and courage. One of the crew is even called upon to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a tiger. Brave, beautiful or batshit?

   It also features the blond-haired children of Siberia, who are offered the opportunity to learn about their forrest neighbors.

5. Male Stars Very Good 3.5

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars Very Good 3.5

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

11. Direction Good 3.0

12. Play Good 3.0

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.2

    The film is largely violence free. It shows a bit of tiger feeding, but nothing more disturbing than you’d see in a butcher shop. It also flashes on a few images of dead tigers, but these too are quickly passed by. All in all, it’s family friendly and pretty safe for the squeamish.

17. Sex Innocent 1.0

18. Violence Fierce 1.6

19. Rudeness Polite 1.0

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    This 1997 documentary grimly informs us that only about 300 Siberian tigers still live in the wild. And yet apparently that population has stayed roughly stable in the ensuing years, per Wikipedia. Whew.

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0