Is nature savage? Or cute? For decades, cartoons presented animals and even insects as anthropomorphic creatures endowed with intelligence, nobility, humor and even sarcasm. Even “Bambi,” the most heart-wrenching of the classic Disney films, depicts man, not beasts, as killers. Nature films were different, showing us the primal urges of the wild kingdom. In raw footage, lions did not sit down to eat with napkins, knives and forks. For them, dining meant murder.

Featuring stunning cinematography and a great cast of voices, the new film “Pride” (7 p.m., A&E) combines live-action nature photography with cartoon sensibilities. The result is bizarre, contradictory and often annoying.

“Pride” follows two lion cubs, Suki (the voice of Kate Winslet) and Linus (Rupert Graves), as they grow and mature under the watchful eye of Macheeba (Helen Mirren).

Children may enjoy the cubs’ spunky attitudes, and adults will be impressed by the camerawork’s startling immediacy. But it’s difficult to reconcile the big cats’ wisecracking personalities with their innate urges to maul, maim and kill.

• “History Detectives” (8 p.m., PBS) returns for a second season. This cheeky combination of “Antiques Roadshow” and “Unsolved Mysteries” chronicles historians and experts as they help participants discover more about artifacts stored in their attic or their long-lost ancestors’ ties to history. Tonight, “Detectives” assists a New Orleans resident in investigating claims that his relative built a Confederate submarine.

Tonight’s other highlights

• A new maid has a troubled past on “North Shore” (7 p.m., Fox).
• Kid Rock is host of a party celebrating “The Must List: The 137 Things We Love This Summer” (7:30 p.m., MTV).
• A big bettor goes bonkers on “The Casino” (8 p.m., Fox).
• Mike Nichols is host of the 2004 American Film Institute tribute to Meryl Streep (8 p.m., USA).
• “Lance’s Five Battles Won” (8 p.m., Outdoor Life) recalls cyclist Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France triumphs.
• Thirteen women hope to pass muster with the three adult children of a single father on the second installment of “Who Wants to Marry My Dad?” (9 p.m., NBC).