Lassie, Babe, Skippy, Flipper… If animals can be full stars of films and series, we know less about their lives off camera – except for the tragic fate of the orca Keiko who was Willy in the eponymous saga at the screen. In Quebec, in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Rochelle in the Eastern Townships to be precise, there is a place where these beasts lead a peaceful life between two shoots: the Cinézoo, an intriguing place of more than 100 acres open to the public to whom Canal D devotes its documentary series movie beasts.
For several decades, Jean Cardinal, 70, has taken care of his furry, scaly or feathered residents like his own children. With his son Olivier, they train with the greatest respect the animals to play in front of the camera and to understand the various film sets, whether they are Quebec feature films, Canadian commercials or even American blockbusters. movie beasts thus shows the public that the place that welcomes it is a real sanctuary where the animal is king, a “fresco” that Jean and Olivier Cardinal sketch out day after day.
Proof of this is from the first moments of the documentary series with Tango, a grizzly that Jean Cardinal knew how to tame when he was still only a few months old cub, or Trotsky, the mischievous monkey. The founder of the Cinézoo knows the personality of his dozens of animals like the back of his hand and, for this reason, the relationship he has with them is a real balm to the heart to watch without moderation in movie beasts.
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