Groove is a major character featured in the 2000 Disney live-action film Whispers: An Elephant's Tale.
Background[]
Personality[]
Groove is the sister of Half Tusk with a pragmatic personality. Unlike most members of the herd, Groove is an outcast from her own herd who never wanted to be a mother[1], preferring to be alone rather than stay with the rest of the elephants. During her encounter with Whispers, she eventually felt pragmatic of having Whispers following him in offering him to find a new family after he was separated from his mother. In spite of this and her temper, she is also capable of repelling enemies that serve as hazards to her, such as lions attacking an elephant or when the poachers arrive.
Role in the film[]
Groove is first seen approaching some palm trees, planning to give the herd some leaves and grasses for their lunch, only for her to find Whispers hiding behind the vegetation, whom which she mistakes him for food. Whispers tries to ask her for help, but she refuses, asking her that his mother told him to hide in the bushes, but cannot remember where she went, only for Groove to reply to him that she never saw his mother Gentle Heart. However, Whispers stubbornly tries to ask her to help her find his mother, just as he despondently follows Groove, agreeing to help Whispers find his lost mother. The conversation was interrupted when the other elephants are panicking, thinking that the poachers are back, causing Groove to overhear and tell Whispers to run away from the men.
Half Tusk later approaches her sister Groove, furious that she was to protect her teenage daughter Princess from danger, only for her to be irritated, much to Half Tusk feeling furious, giving her a last warning to watch over her daughter. Later when Groove refuses to migrate with the herd, making a negative comment about Whispers about him slowing the herd down, Half Tusk furiously charges towards Groove and fights her for her disobedience. Groove then overhears her sister Half Tusk, complaining that she is tired of having no one listen to her opinions or having fun, only for her to warn her not leave by herself to avoid ending up in the situation Tuskless had.
Just as Whispers and Groove walk across a large lake, the latter tells him that he is officially stalking her, just before Whispers narrates that he wanted to find his mother while Groove wanted to improve her independence and despite her cranky attitude, Whispers sensed that she was warming towards him. Groove and Whispers find themselves in a forest full of baboons and as they explore, they find a male elephant jarring a tree using his trunk. Groove asks him if he could give her and Whispers lunch, only for Tough Tusk to accidentally drop the tree on him. Just as he lifts the tree to save Whispers, he and Groove continue their journey across the forest to find Gentle Heart. As it becomes night, Groove warns Whispers to be cautious of hostile lions that lurks around at the forest.
Having gotten past the lions within the forest at night, Whispers and Groove stroll past a herd of buffalo grazing on the grass, and as he tries to ask them for help, Groove tells him to leave them alone, just as three lionesses attempt to hunt them for their prey, only for the buffalo to defend themselves from the lionesses. After walking past the buffalo, Whispers curiously asks Groove of why lions had to attack elephants and buffalo, which she replies to him that it is nature's way - herbivores like elephants and buffalo feed on grass and leaves while carnivores like lions prey on them.
As they walk across the savanna, Groove sees skeletal remains of elephants who were killed, telling Whispers to be cautious of what lies within. It is then revealed that the place they are walking within is an abandoned poacher's village, as they pass by several huts, which Groove narrates that the skeletal remains of the elephants connect to the poachers. Groove then finds several bullets lying on the ground, reminding Whispers on the day he got separated from his mother. Whispers ended up being impatient about his mother, much to Groove's worry, only for her to comfort an upset Whispers talking to a turtle. Groove offers a deal to Whispers as in finding another family to protect him from the hunters; Whispers frustratedly decides to stay with Groove instead.
Whispers later narrates that what Groove had in mind was finding him a new family, as well as narrating that every pool of water he and Groove came across had obstacles for him. He then tells Groove that he is thirsty, unaware that there are lionesses occupying the watering hole, just as she tells him to move in order to avoid disturbing the lions. Whispers and Groove continue their journey to find civilization as part of his plans and as they find a flock of birds, Groove becomes excited that the presence of birds marks water for the elephants - unaware that the pool is occupied by bull elephants. Groove tells Whispers that culture what elephants have is important to him, as in observing two male elephants - Macho Bull and Fulla Bull, reminding him to be on his best behavior. However, to their annoyance, the territorial elephants tell Groove and Whispers to take off. After leaving, Groove recaps that the reason why she abandoned her sister in the first place was for her to be left alone and after an argument, she allows Whispers to be left alone, recapping that she felt uncomfortable of babysitting Whispers.
That night, Whispers tried to search for Groove, only to find a stranger elephant instead. Just as lions began to arrive, Whispers began to get Groove's attention to help save an elephant attacked by lions, only for her to warn him not to risk his life during the attack, only for Groove to reconsider and fight off the lions attacking the elephant. To this, Groove and Whispers were able to survive the ambush. The next day, Groove begins to hang out with Whispers across the savanna, only to find footprints linked to the poachers. All of a sudden, Groove and Whispers are surrounded by wildfire across the savanna, which Whispers realizes that the fire must be linked to the poachers who were the cause of the fire. As they are trapped by fire, Groove knocks down a tree to help Whispers get through the fire, which Whispers holds her tail to help him avoid being burned. Having gotten through, the poachers find elephants using their flashlights, while Groove and Whispers are having a hard time finding each other. As Whispers cries for help, Groove defends him from the poachers, causing them to retreat, although she ends up getting shot by one of the poachers, causing her to be injured.
The next day, Whispers and Groove arrive at a large parched area. As Whispers realizes that Groove is walking slow (due to the injury she received during her fight with the poachers), he decides to ask an elephant to help her, only for Groove to deny, telling him to avoid separating from her, which Whispers decides to risk himself to ask the other elephants for help. Later when Half Tusk's herd arrives, they began to wonder of what happened to Groove, including Princess telling him of where she is; Whispers replies to her that it was the poachers who shot Groove, leading Half Tusk and Tuskless on a search for her.
Whispers then leads Half Tusk to approach Groove who is seriously injured after her fight against the poachers, much to Half Tusk's worry. Half Tusk gives her sister some water, albeit she is still unable to move, due to her injury. As a result, Groove tells her sister to take care of Whispers, just as he realizes that he needs to do his part, warning him that the poachers will be back, telling him to make a promise for her just before she dies. Whispers began to mourn over Groove's death. However, Whispers was able to find his mother throughout the film after saving Princess, alongside Half Tusk and her herd, from the poachers.
Trivia[]
- During the part where Whispers and Groove encounter baboons in the forest for the first time, the latter asks him, "Who are you, Tarzan? He can't speak elephant." This is a possible reference to the 1999 Disney animated film Tarzan, where the titular character raised by apes encounters Jane and the Professor for the first time and is unable to speak with them (despite Tarzan himself being a human raised by animals being able to speak normally).
- Said line about the baboons being unable to "speak elephant" is also a possible reference to the scene from Lady and the Tramp during the scene at the zoo where Tramp tells Lady that the apes at the zoo would not understand her in a plan to find an animal who would help remove Lady's muzzle.
- While most of the elephants featured in the film were filmed in the wild, only the elephants that portray Groove and Whispers were portrayed as trained elephants respectively.
- Groove's voice actress Angela Bassett was advertised in a 2001 home video trailer for Whispers during the "Featuring the voice talents of" narration by Mark Elliott, which was used to promote the film's release on home video.
References[]
- ↑ Whispers: An Elephant's Tale DVD (back cover)
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