Disney celebrates Earth Day with Earth a feature-length version of the TV documentary Planet Earth. The universal appeal of Earth’s subject matter, its release’s two day head start on the weekend combined with the relatively weak and diametrically opposite new weekend releases gives Earth a real chance to make a respectable showing in the weekend B.O. tally.
As you watch the visual splendor that is Earth, the question you’ll find yourself wanting answered is, how the hell did they film this movie?. In fact Earth was the first film to ever shoot aerials of Mt. Everest. The producers had to gain access to a Nepalese spy plane to get the shots used in this movie. Four thousand days of footage and a $40 million budget made Earth the most expensive documentary production of all time.
Money well spent. Billed as a film that follows the migration paths of three animal families, Earth is so much more. The three “families” provide only a loose structure for Earth. Narrated by the only man suitable to voice over a film this grand, James Earl Jones, Earth is primarily a feast for the eyes and the heart. (Paradoxically the UK version is narrated by Patrick Stewart, are UK tastes really so fussy that James Earl Jones won’t satisfy them?)
Adorable mother and child stories are sprinkled through out Earth and each one is more heart-warming than the next. From the mother duck teaching her fuzzy off-spring to leap from the safety of their nest to the elephant mother almost dragging her young one through the dust bowl of southern Africa to an inland delta oasis. The beauty of our planet is all the more compelling when framed, as majestically as Disney does it, by the struggles of some of the other Terran inhabitants.
Long periods of silence are anything but uninteresting as vistas are captured on film the likes of which you have never seen. How the hell did they film this? Angel and Victoria Falls fly-overs from incredible vantages, all with the stability and clarity of a studio shoot. The natural lighting of our planet captured as you can’t imagine, it’s all more believable as CGI, but it’s not, it’s Mother Nature at Her creative best. Filmed by Disney’s creative best.
The harsh realities of Darwinism are frequently explored in Earth, the savagery of life and death can not be ignored if an honest story of our planet is going to be told. But high marks to Directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield for using implication, cutting away when we all know what’s going to happen next. It’s gentle. It’s considerate to the audience and the parents of the audience.
Make no mistake though, this is not a kids movie, nor is it an “anyone” movie. It’s an everyone movie. Earth makes no political statement, no scientific claims and does not pursue an environmental agenda. Everyone from the mouth-breather who itches for his shotgun when he sees the sky-filling flocks of birds to the vegan in her hemp sandals will enjoy Earth without fear of offense. At no time does the film take even the smallest step onto a soap box.
Earth entertains, it does so brilliantly. But it doesn’t inspire. Perhaps because it stays so true to its mission of telling a simple story about a complex natural world you won’t be moved to go hybrid shopping on your way home. And it’s unlikely you’ll start that compost pile you’ve been putting off. That’s not the point. Disney will leave that to Michael Moore.
We can all find fault with ourselves, and in others and in our governments. And there’s certainly plenty of fault to find in us all for our stewardship of our planet. But there is absolutely no fault to find in Earth. No negatives, no pithy quips. The makers of of this film set out with a clear goal in mind, they spared no expense and they turned out ninety minutes of pure wholesome enjoyment, for everyone. Everyone on Earth.
Sequel and Technical: The sequel release is already on the slate. Earth Day 2010, it’s called Oceans. Put it on your calendar. Technically this film is a marvel. Stick around for the credits, they’ll help illustrate how it was all captured on film.
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Disney celebrates Earth Day with Earth a feature-length version of the TV documentary Planet Earth. The universal appeal of Earth’s subject matter, its release’s two day head start on the weekend combined with the relatively weak and diametrically opposite new weekend releases gives Earth a real chance to make a respectable showing in the weekend B.O. tally.
As you watch the visual splendor that is Earth, the question you’ll find yourself wanting answered is, how the hell did they film this movie?. In fact Earth was the first film to ever shoot aerials of Mt. Everest. The producers had to gain access to a Nepalese spy plane to get the shots used in this movie. Four thousand days of footage and a $40 million budget made Earth the most expensive documentary production of all time.
Money well spent. Billed as a film that follows the migration paths of three animal families, Earth is so much more. The three “families” provide only a loose structure for Earth. Narrated by the only man suitable to voice over a film this grand, James Earl Jones, Earth is primarily a feast for the eyes and the heart. (Paradoxically the UK version is narrated by Patrick Stewart, are UK tastes really so fussy that James Earl Jones won’t satisfy them?)
Adorable mother and child stories are sprinkled through out Earth and each one is more heart-warming than the next. From the mother duck teaching her fuzzy off-spring to leap from the safety of their nest to the elephant mother almost dragging her young one through the dust bowl of southern Africa to an inland delta oasis. The beauty of our planet is all the more compelling when framed, as majestically as Disney does it, by the struggles of some of the other Terran inhabitants.
Long periods of silence are anything but uninteresting as vistas are captured on film the likes of which you have never seen. How the hell did they film this? Angel and Victoria Falls fly-overs from incredible vantages, all with the stability and clarity of a studio shoot. The natural lighting of our planet captured as you can’t imagine, it’s all more believable as CGI, but it’s not, it’s Mother Nature at Her creative best. Filmed by Disney’s creative best.
The harsh realities of Darwinism are frequently explored in Earth, the savagery of life and death can not be ignored if an honest story of our planet is going to be told. But high marks to Directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield for using implication, cutting away when we all know what’s going to happen next. It’s gentle. It’s considerate to the audience and the parents of the audience.
Make no mistake though, this is not a kids movie, nor is it an “anyone” movie. It’s an everyone movie. Earth makes no political statement, no scientific claims and does not pursue an environmental agenda. Everyone from the mouth-breather who itches for his shotgun when he sees the sky-filling flocks of birds to the vegan in her hemp sandals will enjoy Earth without fear of offense. At no time does the film take even the smallest step onto a soap box.
Earth entertains, it does so brilliantly. But it doesn’t inspire. Perhaps because it stays so true to its mission of telling a simple story about a complex natural world you won’t be moved to go hybrid shopping on your way home. And it’s unlikely you’ll start that compost pile you’ve been putting off. That’s not the point. Disney will leave that to Michael Moore.
We can all find fault with ourselves, and in others and in our governments. And there’s certainly plenty of fault to find in us all for our stewardship of our planet. But there is absolutely no fault to find in Earth. No negatives, no pithy quips. The makers of of this film set out with a clear goal in mind, they spared no expense and they turned out ninety minutes of pure wholesome enjoyment, for everyone. Everyone on Earth.
Sequel and Technical: The sequel release is already on the slate. Earth Day 2010, it’s called Oceans. Put it on your calendar. Technically this film is a marvel. Stick around for the credits, they’ll help illustrate how it was all captured on film.
Enjoy my movie review
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