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Quote:
Originally Posted by vespaguy 
Disney's Earth (BD) : 4/5
This is the first film from the new DisneyNature label which is focusing on bringing nature movies to the big screen. When this movie was released earlier this summer, I recognized a lot of the footage in the trailers from the BBC "Planet Earth" series. But rather than a collection of nature footage, this film was marketed as the tale of 3 animal families. Here's a small excerpt from the product description on Amazon:
Even the Blu-Ray case shows three families of animals, but the problem is that this film has very little narrative at all. The film does spend some time with three different animal groups - a polar bear family, a herd of elephants, and a whale and her baby - but these clips make up less than half of the movie. Scattered throughout the film are dozens of other unrelated clips that having nothging to do with these families: ducklings taking their first plunge out of a tree, great whites flying out of the ocean, birds of paradise dancing, majestic waterfalls, etc.
There's nothing wrong with the way the nature footage was presented, but I feel that the marketing of this movie was extremely misleading. These simple stories were glossed over on the BBC series, and I assumed that the Disney movie would explore their journeys in more detail, however their was no new footage, and claiming that their migration was "tracked across the globe" is a stunning bit of hyperbole.
A blurb on the Blu-Ray case says "Better Than March Of The Penguins", but this movie is completely unlike the detailed documentary/narrative style of MOTP - it is simply a hodge-podge of amazing nature footage.
I also wrongly assumed that the footage that Disney used would have differed from the footage used by the BBC, since they had "4,000 days of cinematography" to select from. But instead, this film plays like a "best of" from the BBC series "Planet Earth". Almost none of the footage seemed fresh to me. I'd estimate that more than 90% of the footage is the exact same footage used in "Planet Earth".
And if you've seen "Planet Earth", you'll also notice a dramatic difference in the narration. Where "Planet Earth" has a matter-of-fact narration by actors like Richard Attenborough, "Earth" tends to be a bit more cutesy/folksy, tossing in some nods to other Disney films (James Earl Jones mentions the "circle of life", and also talks about a group of ducklings who take their first flight as not actually flying, but "falling with style", from "Toy Story")
I still give this movie a 4 out of 5 rating for the breathtaking footage alone. If you've already seen "Planet Earth", you can skip this one - there's nothing new to see here. But if you haven't seen "Planet Earth" (and you don't want to sit through eleven 50 minute episodes) or you have children who enjoy animal/nature footage, "Earth" is a very good second choice.
Disney's Earth (BD) : 4/5
This is the first film from the new DisneyNature label which is focusing on bringing nature movies to the big screen. When this movie was released earlier this summer, I recognized a lot of the footage in the trailers from the BBC "Planet Earth" series. But rather than a collection of nature footage, this film was marketed as the tale of 3 animal families. Here's a small excerpt from the product description on Amazon:
Even the Blu-Ray case shows three families of animals, but the problem is that this film has very little narrative at all. The film does spend some time with three different animal groups - a polar bear family, a herd of elephants, and a whale and her baby - but these clips make up less than half of the movie. Scattered throughout the film are dozens of other unrelated clips that having nothging to do with these families: ducklings taking their first plunge out of a tree, great whites flying out of the ocean, birds of paradise dancing, majestic waterfalls, etc.
There's nothing wrong with the way the nature footage was presented, but I feel that the marketing of this movie was extremely misleading. These simple stories were glossed over on the BBC series, and I assumed that the Disney movie would explore their journeys in more detail, however their was no new footage, and claiming that their migration was "tracked across the globe" is a stunning bit of hyperbole.
A blurb on the Blu-Ray case says "Better Than March Of The Penguins", but this movie is completely unlike the detailed documentary/narrative style of MOTP - it is simply a hodge-podge of amazing nature footage.
I also wrongly assumed that the footage that Disney used would have differed from the footage used by the BBC, since they had "4,000 days of cinematography" to select from. But instead, this film plays like a "best of" from the BBC series "Planet Earth". Almost none of the footage seemed fresh to me. I'd estimate that more than 90% of the footage is the exact same footage used in "Planet Earth".
And if you've seen "Planet Earth", you'll also notice a dramatic difference in the narration. Where "Planet Earth" has a matter-of-fact narration by actors like Richard Attenborough, "Earth" tends to be a bit more cutesy/folksy, tossing in some nods to other Disney films (James Earl Jones mentions the "circle of life", and also talks about a group of ducklings who take their first flight as not actually flying, but "falling with style", from "Toy Story")
I still give this movie a 4 out of 5 rating for the breathtaking footage alone. If you've already seen "Planet Earth", you can skip this one - there's nothing new to see here. But if you haven't seen "Planet Earth" (and you don't want to sit through eleven 50 minute episodes) or you have children who enjoy animal/nature footage, "Earth" is a very good second choice.
I have to say that from the first time I saw the ads on TV, I thought "Planet Earth" rip-off...
-t
I only watch these movies for a laugh and it was good for that!
.
