Review in a Hurry: Mother Nature is ready for her close-up, and this spectacularly shot doc gives our big, blue planet her due, with rare peeks at exotic creatures and thrilling action scenes. It all makes you wanna flee the urban jungle to give our Mom a hug.
The Bigger Picture: This BBC production, based on footage shot for its Planet Earth series and released under the new Disneynature banner, covers a lot of ground—and air and water—by showcasing the entire, well, Earth in 90 minutes. (Next year brings the slightly more-focused Oceans.) As overreaching wildlife docs go, this one's a beaut, with enough funny, scary, awe-inspiring stuff to please everyone.
Though mostly episodic, Earth uses as its framing device the plight of three animal families: A papa polar bear leaves his cubs to forage for food among melting ice caps; a whale and her calf migrate 4,000 miles to the South Pole; a mama and baby elephant, with a herd of 1,000 others, cross the desert in search of water. Between the stories, the film transitions, with surprising fluidness, through seasonal changes in different biomes and introduces us to various species engaged in the circle of life.
Kids will enjoy the cuter stuff—mallard ducklings learning to fly, birds of paradise preening and prancing (aka their mating ritual). But the coolest sequences highlight danger (cranes battling fierce winds over the Himalayas) and, yes, death (a cheetah pouncing on a gazelle in jaw-dropping slow motion and a polar bear/walrus herd smackdown). No worries, parents, Earth cuts away from animal attacks before blood is drawn.
The stunning high-def photography is accompanied by George Fenton's stirring orchestrations and narrated by James Earl Jones, who strikes a balance of authority, warmth and occasional Darth Vader menace. Only an actor with gravitas and his basso profundo could deliver a line like "This creature is the very essence of wilderness" and give you chills.
Also, catch the closing credits for a humorous peek at the filmmakers who capture these glorious images.
The 180—a Second Opinion: Penguins and great white sharks make obligatory appearances (though not together—that would be cool). C'mon, aren't there others more deserving of screen time than these cinematically overexposed critters?