After such films as “Mia and the White Lion” and “The Wolf and the Lion,” director Gilles de Maistre’s “Autumn and the Black Jaguar” reinforces the French filmmaker’s dedication to superficial family-friendly movies with an environmentalist cause at their heart. But as his latest shows, noble principles about the protection of wildlife and animals don’t automatically translate to a good screenplay or a watchable movie. You want to be moved by this seemingly conservation-minded affair, but “Autumn and the Black Jaguar” sadly turns into a cringe-inducing experience fast in a number of ways, undermining the intelligence and taste level of its young audience in the process.

Written by Prune de Maistre, the story follows Autumn (Lumi Pollack), a 14-year-old junior high student in New York City, being lovingly raised by his single father Saul (Paul Greene). Clunky flashbacks take us back to Autumn’s childhood while she...