Susan Granger’s review of “Earth” (DisneyNature)
While this gloriously-filmed, environmentally-propelled documentary follows the remarkable story of three animal families, it may look more than a trifle familiar to those who frequently watch the Discovery Channel or who have seen the 11-part BBC miniseries, “Planet Earth,” first presented in 2007. That’s because it features reworked footage from that highly acclaimed, groundbreaking nature series.
Anthropomorphically narrated by James Earl Jones, it attributes human emotions and behavior patterns to three “families,” spanning continents and oceans, over the period of a year. A polar bear Mom and her two cubs emerge from hibernation beneath the snow, while Dad’s survival is challenged by a walrus on prematurely melting Arctic ice that limits his ability to forage for food. As a herd of African elephants is migrating toward the floodwaters of the Okavango Delta, a baby is separated from its mother and dies (off-camera). And deep beneath the surface of the sea, a mother humpback whale and her newborn swim thousands of miles from the tropics to Antarctica’s feeding grounds.
Unlike the BBC mini-series, however, this blandly sanitized, G-rated Disney version delicately avoids disturbing depictions of death. On the African plain, there’s stalking, chasing and pouncing but the carnivores’ graphic consumption of their prey is not shown.
“Disney was keen to strengthen the happy ending but over-all was very interested in being scientifically accurate,” notes Alastair Fothergill who created the BBC’s “Planet Earth” with Mark Linfield. As a result, their footage has been gracefully edited into a cohesive compilation, offering eye-popping glimpses of other wildlife like walruses, penguins, sharks, baboons, cheetah, wolves, Papua New Guinea birds of paradise and demoiselle cranes crossing the Himalayas. The time-lapse cinematography and aerial shots are amazing, and George Fenton’s score adds an effective musical counterpoint.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Earth” is a spectacular 9, capturing wildlife images that – with the threat of climate change as a result of global warming – may not be around for our children and our children’s children. If your family enjoys this kind of entertainment, do yourself a favor and rent Discovery’s “Planet Earth.”
