Disneynature and BBC bring a documentary type story highlighting the adventures and a year in the life of three families and the world around them as they journey through their daily lives.
Film making 23/25
Video 24/25
Audio 24/25
Bonus Features 10/25
Total 81/100
Disneynature and BBC brings Earth to Blu-ray in all its splendid glory and great high definition video and audio with narration by James Earl Jones. Follow three families each with newborns as they journey on their first year of life across their own landscapes.
Earth is a great storytelling documentary that does follow three families for some of the film but mostly they use the three animal species and families as a starting point in their adventure around the world. The film uses the tilt of the earth and the changing seasons to bring the various animals from very distant locations on the globe into the same story.
Earth starts with a great shot of the planet from space and moves into the arctic to follow the emergence of a polar bear mother and her two cubs. The first ten minutes or so follow the polar bear family including dad as he roams the ice looking for food in front of the others.
They move south with their locations to highlight some caribou and ducks then continue even further south to take a tour of the tropical rain forests. Each section looks quickly but with enough information to highlight several species and give information that is not only fun but informative.
James Earl Jones does a fantastic job at narration with his deep resonant voice but also adds in some great comments and humorous jokes where appropriate. The wood duck chick’s first leap from their tree nest to the ground below and the Bird of Paradise mating rituals would not be complete without his great additions and the lively musical accompaniment.
The three families highlighted are the polar bear, African elephant and the humpback whales but many more species of plants and animals are looked at. The film does a great job of going from one area of our planet to another and picking species that interrelate and even give regions of the world their few minutes in the spotlight.
The film does not overindulge and give too much information that you are overwhelmed with information so do not be afraid of getting too much education while watching. There is enough here for many repeat visits and the great location shots are real gorgeous to behold again and again.
They did an excellent job of filming and keeping everything about man including the film crews out of the scenes to really show the animals in their glory. During the ending you do see some of the ways they did not quite keep out of the way of nature they were trying to capture but you can see and laugh about those when you buy this great film.
The Blu-ray edition is a fantastic looking film with some fantastic video and wonderful audio in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound. The video looks very good from start to ending as you would expect from a documentary but this is really the best video I have seen on Blu-ray so far.
Colors are sharp, shadows are deep and dark with good black levels and even wide shots from helicopters and balloons look smooth and clear. The video is about as good as your going to get and looks absolutely stunning and is accompanied by great audio.
The master audio sounds great and really adds a lot to the film and the moments you are experiencing with very appropriate music and background added to each part. James Earl Jones voice comes across clear and smooth throughout the film and he does a great job as narrator.
The Blu-ray edition unfortunately does not contain very much in the way of bonus content but does include a commentary picture in picture track to play while the movie is rolling. There are no additional features or content but the BVlu-ray edition does have the bous DVD version to enjoy on your computer or elsewhere even if it is not in high definition.
Earth is really one of those films you need to get and watch with kids to give them a broader vision of our world and the life on it that really does more than simply educate. Earth is an inspiring film to give you a clear look at several species in very different parts of the world as well as looking at our impact on the environment.
The commentary really does highlight the fact that we need to do something to help our planet and the species on it survive and flourish. Earth is a great film and a wonderful documentary that is fantastic looking on Blu-ray with a great message to do your part to save our planet.
