EARTH

Documentary

REVIEW
I had such high expectations: a nature film produced by Disney with the support of the BBC and the Discovery channel. What could go wrong? Plenty.

To start with there is no real story, just a haphazard series of pictures showing wildlife around the globe with an emphasis on three “families”.

The monotone vapid narration doesn’t provide any life to what little is being said, most of pretty insipid anyway. And perhaps worse still, too often there is no narration at all so we have no idea where the falls are located or the name of the animal, things like that.

However all this pales with the many scenes of animal violence which to my mind are not suitable for anyone who cares about animals.
Some examples:
• A wolf chases down and catches a young caribou that’s been separated from the migrating herd
• A cheetah outruns a baby antelope half its size then bites down on its neck until it slowly dies
• A lion pounces on a fleeing baby elephant, hanging on with his claws imbedded in the elephant’s hide until the calf stumbles and is attacked by the rest of the pride
• A starving polar bear attacks a walrus pup and then its mother with his teeth firmly in her neck before laying down to die
• A great white whale feasting on a seal (in slow motion no less) and for good measure it’s shown twice

And if that’s not enough we see the dire straits of a baby elephant who is following his mother’s scent along a path, but going in the opposite direction to her and directly to its ultimate demise by predators.

The only thing the movie has going for it is the glorious photography, especially the time-lapse and aerial shots.

CLASSIFICATION
how they managed to get this rating is beyond me.