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EARTH Review

This is the kind of the film meant to show off the HD TV and Blu-ray player. This gorgeous looking documentary is filled with bird’s eye wide shots that would be a muddy mess on a small standard TV on DVD. 1080p brings out the vibrant colors of the natural world captured on this film beautifully. The neon colors of the birds of paradise seem unnatural. The view capturing the deep greens of jungles as the camera floats down a river and over Angel Falls is awe-inspiring. Complimenting the gorgeous pictures, the 5.1 surround sound puts us into the environments with the wild animals. In a wonderful nighttime shoot where elephants and lions face off, the sound field makes us feel like you’re surrounded by hungry felines.

While the special features are spare, they are wonderful additions. The “Earth Diaries” is one of the best making of docs I’ve seen on a disc all year. As interesting as the film, the making of has directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield chronicling the many advances that the film made. Over 2,000 man hours were put into this production, which is an edited version of the PLANET EARTH series. Filmed in 62 countries on all seven continents, the filmmakers were given five years using new cameras to capture animals in their natural habitat like never before. Part of the joy of this making of is watching the perseverance of the filmmakers to get the shots they desired. Because this isn’t staged, crazy mishaps happen all the time and luck plays a big role as well.

The film commentary is also innovative. Small screens pop up during the film where the directors, producers and nature experts add their thoughts about what is going on on the screen or provide added information. At other times, additional facts pop up in boxes to give viewers even more information about our planet. Much like the making of doc, the commentary does capture the scope of the project. A cameraman had to wait patiently for 30 days to catch the momma polar bear and her cubs emerging from their den after the winter. These are the kind of special features you wished every Blu-ray had.

Check Out the Trailer

This nature documentary is really just an hour and half repackaging of the TV series PLANET EARTH. Walt Disney Pictures commissioned the film to kick off its Disneynature brand, a contemporary take on its 1950s True Life Adventure series. The film is like getting a highlight reel of the impressive series.

Using the theme of families, the film follows various animals and their young. A mother polar bear coaxes her two cubs out of their den after a long winter. Their father struggles to find food on the ice, which is now melting quicker and quicker due to Global Warming. A mother elephant and her baby make the arduous trip across the dry plains of Africa with their herd to the summer watering hole their ancestors have traveled to for decades. A mother humpback whale and her calf travel from tropic waters to the Arctic, the longest journey of any ocean animal. Read the rest of this entry »