Zoo

Zoo (2018) is a family wartime drama you can watch online on iFILM. Director Colin McIvor builds it from a true story: a handful of Belfast children who set out to rescue a baby elephant during the 1941 air raids.

Young Tom (Art Parkinson) adores Buster, the baby elephant who is the pride of the local zoo. With his father off at the front and German bombers closing in, the authorities order the dangerous animals shot before a raid can turn them loose in the streets. Tom and his band of misfit friends spirit Buster away to the home of a flinty old neighbor (Penelope Wilton). Hiding an elephant in a city under fire is next to impossible.

Toby Jones and Ian McElhinney round out the cast. The script grows from a real episode — during the Belfast Blitz, a zookeeper truly did shelter an elephant calf in her own back garden. There's no blood and little cruelty on screen, which makes this an easy one to watch with younger kids in the room. Stream Zoo (2018) online on iFILM.