Tiny Giants: Movie Review

On the same trip to the Nature and Science Museum, in addition to going to the Whales: Giants of the Deep exhibit, I watched a 45 minute movie called Tiny Giants at the Imax theater in 3D.The movie switched between the lives of a chipmunk and a Scorpion mouse. I really enjoyed this movie for it’s different perspectives on the lives of such tiny animals.

The first part is about a chipmunk finding food for the winter. Man, I am glad I have to do no such thing! Winter seems to be an indefinitely hard period for every animal in the forest. I won’t spoil everything, but I think one of the coolest parts of these sections is that you learn all about plenty of different types of animals, such as the predators trying to catch the little guy. The more you go along with the chipmunk, the more worried you get when things aren’t looking so good. I genuinely started to feel more annoyed by things like owls for endangering the little chipmunk. Also, as you continue watching, you start to feel intrigued by the amount of danger and adventure in such a little creature’s life. Who knew instead of going to the grocery store, little chipmunks have to get off their butts and go hunting. The 3D makes you immersed in the wildlife and you really felt small. To live like a chipmunk you would have to have a pretty high metabolism.  Another one of the chipmunk’s enemies is, strangely enough, other chipmunks. Raids and break-ins happen often.

The second section is about the Scorpion mouse, also known as the grasshopper mouse. In one of my past blog posts, I talked about these little mice in the desert that are known for howling like a wolf to mark territory. It’s almost comical to watch such a tiny creature howl such a serious noise. If I heard that howl in the dead of night in a desert, I’d think I found a Sasquatch.The reason its cooler name, the Scorpion mouse is a nickname for the grasshopper mouse is because it also likes to have scorpions as a treat. It is immune to scorpion stings and when battling against one, it quickly chews its tail off, making it virtually harmless. Curious enough, one of the Scorpion mice’s biggest foes is rainwater. Some scorpion mice can go their whole lives without seeing it. It quickly drowns them or makes them freeze to death. Looking at the desert from the eyes of something a couple inches tall makes the desert look like a thriving metropolis.

I really liked this movie because you can compare some human’s lives to the lives of mice and human’s lives look like a cakewalk. The next time you see a mouse while hiking or on a trip, don’t kill it or trap it in a jar, after all, it has a worse time than you when it comes to surviving.

Watch the movie trailer: