The first film in the Disneynature series, earth, narrated by James Earl Jones, tells the remarkable story of three animal families and their amazing journey across the planet we all call home. "earth combines rare action, unimaginable scale and impossible locations by capturing the most intimate moments of our planet's wildest and most elusive creatures. Directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, the acclaimed creative team behind the Emmy Award-winning "Planet Earth," combine forces again to bring this epic adventure to the big screen, beginning Earth Day 2009.
Perspective is what you get with a vengeance while watching Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield’s breathlessly photographed “Earth,” with Leslie Megahey, Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield’s script intoned dramatically and sometimes humorously by the great James Earl Jones. This is the kind of film that could make you toss away your $150 digital camera or $800 camcorder and leave photography to the pros. The real pros behind the lenses, Richard Brooks Burton, Mike Holding and Andrew Shillabeer, backed up by George Fenton’s original music, all of which punctuates particular behavior by specific animals, make this a must-see for nature lovers and for Wall Street executives alike. Thematically, though, there is nothing especially new about Earth, though if you’ve been an avid fan of the Discovery Channel, you get to see a variety of our fellow animals on the big screen. There are one criticism I have, so i'll get it out of the way: the cameras cut away just as attack animals are about to consume their hunting successes, thereby, perhaps, garnering a “G” rating where a “PG” would otherwise have been mandated. Taking us from the frozen Arctic to the scorching Kalahari Desert, from the tropical rain forests of New Guinea and back to the Arctic, Fothergill and Linfield dazzle even the veterans of Discovery Channel viewing, not only in showing us the beauty of one particular bird doing a mating dance that would have seduced me but did not succeed with his date, but focusing as well on the search of some aggressive animals for meals, some successful others tragically not. For example, when a polar bear known as “the father” gets out for some Arctic air after hibernating for six months, he’s pretty hungry. He searches for walrus meat, not choosy about getting it grilled, baked, broiled, boiled or fried so long as it’s fresh. He climbs on the back of a big one as the herd back away in cowardly fashion, trying to dislodge her to get at her little one. By not succeeding in what amounts to his final plunge, he rolls over, destined to starve to death. A wolf has better luck with a member of the antelope family, again, a youthful member that gets separated from the pack. While narrator Jones notes that these food critters can outrun lupines, this one must have been the exception. Again the camera turns away rather than showing some blood. The scenes of big animals (including sharks) chasing food make one think: where is a weak animal better off: in the jungle or in the zoo? Of course zoos afford protection to their guests, but I see things the way the PETA does. Better to live at risk in the natural state where the animals can do what their species implants them to do than to be safe behind bars for life. That’s easy for me to say, though. I rather enjoyed Earth and I give it a 4 on my "Go See" scale.
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