This nature documentary is really just an hour and half repackaging of the TV series PLANET EARTH. Walt Disney Pictures commissioned the film to kick off its Disneynature brand, a contemporary take on its 1950s True Life Adventure series. The film is like getting a highlight reel of the impressive series.
Using the theme of families, the film follows various animals and their young. A mother polar bear coaxes her two cubs out of their den after a long winter. Their father struggles to find food on the ice, which is now melting quicker and quicker due to Global Warming. A mother elephant and her baby make the arduous trip across the dry plains of Africa with their herd to the summer watering hole their ancestors have traveled to for decades. A mother humpback whale and her calf travel from tropic waters to the Arctic, the longest journey of any ocean animal.
Within these larger stories of survival, the film treats us with amazing nature footage in between. The birds of paradise with their vibrant colors and unique mating dances are a highlight. One of them puffs up its body into what looks like a giant neon blue smiley face. With high-tech slow-motion cameras, directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield capture a completely focused cheetah running down a gazelle, great white sharks leaping out of the water to snatch seals in their massive jaws, and baby ducklings taking that first leap toward flight. With infrared cameras, they film the life or death battle between a herd of elephants that cannot see in the night and a pride of hungry lions.
Many of the most amazing shots in the film take amazing bird's eye views. Mindboggling wide shots of herds of caribou stretching off for miles and miles into the distance. Or there are the shots of flocks of birds so immense that the screen looks like it has been taken over by static.
Voiced by James Earl Jones, the narration is informative and sometimes cutesy, but never cloy. Geared toward a family audience, the film tries to relate the animal's experiences to human experience in fun or poignant ways. It does so with tact though. The music is rousing and builds drama for the seemingly impossible odds the animals face.
Not quite as informative as the best nature docs like WINGED MIGRATION or even MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, this film does provide breathtaking visuals and a fascinating look at nature. The filmmakers spent five years collecting footage of animal activity that had never been filmed before. Of course one can see more in the PLANET EARTH TV series, but EARTH still provides enough of the unique beauty and harshness of our changing planet.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
