Spring Break
REVIEW: 'earth' offers plenty of animals, unbelivable sights
4 out of 5 stars
Stephen Ortiz
Issue date: 4/28/09 Section: Focus
Who doesn't love animals? Cute, cuddly, sometimes ferocious animals of all shapes, sizes and colors? Disney Nature's new documentary about the wonderful world we live in, "earth," has boatloads of them, and it's pretty awesome.
On the surface, "earth" may seem like Disney is jumping on the BBC's "Planet Earth" success train by providing an hour and a half of incredible sights and creatures that most of the people on this planet will never see in person before they die. But, that's not the case because Disney has teamed up with those same BBC guys. Also, the house of the mouse has been making nature documentaries for ages (who remembers the "Wonderful World of Disney?") - they know what they're doing.
"earth" tries to focus most of its time on three different animal families (a polar bear mother and her two cubs, a mother humpback whale and her calf, an elephant mother and son) but ends up jumping from species to species all over the world to cram in as many animals as possible. The three storylines aren't lost, but they're also not shoved down your throat. The balance works out very well - there's some structure, but you won't be bored out of your mind from watching the same handful of animals walk or swim for thousands of miles.
Darth Vader, err, James Earl Jones narrates this delightful slice of nature, providing commentary and some entertaining quips now and then throughout the film. He does his part in reminding us of the inconvenient truths (i.e. polar caps melting, rainforests disappearing, etc.) but he's very light on the "it's all our fault, we need to go green."
Some of the coolest moments in "earth" have to be when the elephants and lions share the same watering hole (which becomes very intense once night falls), the baby polar bears (adorable), the birds of paradise mating rituals and the sailfish preying on a school of regular fish. It's awe-inspiring just to think of the amount of work the producers and cameramen had to do to get these shots.
"earth" is appropriate for the whole family. The gory, scary, nightmare inducing moments for kids are kept to a bare minimum as Disney does a good job of cutting away before the going gets rough. That's not to say there aren't moments that will draw tears or covered eyes, but for the most part this is a family feature.
On the surface, "earth" may seem like Disney is jumping on the BBC's "Planet Earth" success train by providing an hour and a half of incredible sights and creatures that most of the people on this planet will never see in person before they die. But, that's not the case because Disney has teamed up with those same BBC guys. Also, the house of the mouse has been making nature documentaries for ages (who remembers the "Wonderful World of Disney?") - they know what they're doing.
"earth" tries to focus most of its time on three different animal families (a polar bear mother and her two cubs, a mother humpback whale and her calf, an elephant mother and son) but ends up jumping from species to species all over the world to cram in as many animals as possible. The three storylines aren't lost, but they're also not shoved down your throat. The balance works out very well - there's some structure, but you won't be bored out of your mind from watching the same handful of animals walk or swim for thousands of miles.
Darth Vader, err, James Earl Jones narrates this delightful slice of nature, providing commentary and some entertaining quips now and then throughout the film. He does his part in reminding us of the inconvenient truths (i.e. polar caps melting, rainforests disappearing, etc.) but he's very light on the "it's all our fault, we need to go green."
Some of the coolest moments in "earth" have to be when the elephants and lions share the same watering hole (which becomes very intense once night falls), the baby polar bears (adorable), the birds of paradise mating rituals and the sailfish preying on a school of regular fish. It's awe-inspiring just to think of the amount of work the producers and cameramen had to do to get these shots.
"earth" is appropriate for the whole family. The gory, scary, nightmare inducing moments for kids are kept to a bare minimum as Disney does a good job of cutting away before the going gets rough. That's not to say there aren't moments that will draw tears or covered eyes, but for the most part this is a family feature.
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