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It's hard to look at the trailer for EARTH and not be reminded of the recent Discovery Channel's award-winning epic series, Planet Earth. There's a very good reason for this as the film's directors, Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, were the same team behind the television series. In fact, the two projects were conceived and shot in conjunction with each other. Despite sharing some common footage (approximately 40% of the film is new), the sister productions have different agendas.
Narrated by James Earl Jones, the film begins by introducing us to our home planet, making it a point to note that it's the tilt of the Earth that makes the world as we know it possible. Although one may not be as quick to notice it while walking the streets of a metropolis day after day, it's the planet's relationship with and to the Sun that creates the seasons that define the nuances of life. Starting at the arctic, we travel south around the globe through the courtesy of several species of animals and vegetation all the way to the Antarctic where we witness first-hand the literal polar opposites of life as one side faces summer while the other simultaneously experiences its winter.
Jones' narration generally maintains a serious overtone although it does take occasional breaks of levity, in an apparent attempt to perhaps maintain the interest of younger members of the theater audience. It probably goes without saying that Jones makes reference to the 'Circle of Life' as a nod to his role of Mufasa in the Lion King (he stops short of following it with 'This is CNN'). Disney enthusiasts will find other references scattered about through the film including a very blatant tip of the hat to -- of all things -- Toy Story. I couldn't help but wonder if Jones had to hold back a tear as the wildebeest stampeded their way across Africa. Overall light on content given the wealth of knowledge to be learned, it's a good idea to check out http://www.disneynature.com/earth where you can download activities and information in the section for educators.
The real stars of this film however are the myriad of creatures that co-habitate on this planet of ours with 42 species featured in all (none of them human), the technology used to capture this amazing spectacle and, of course, Earth itself. With landscapes so breathtaking they're surreal, it really pays to remind oneself every now and then this is what takes really place a little further down the street.
The film tells the story of three families as they work with (and against) nature in order to survive: a father, mother and two polar bear cubs as they race against time and melting ice to beat the odds; an African elephant and her calf as they travel across the Kalahari Desert in search of water; and a humpback whale and her calf as they make the mind-blowing 4,000 mile migration from the tropics to the Antarctic and engage in their novel technique for feeding, presented for all of us to gawk at on the big screen. Along the way we encounter other species of plants and wildlife that contribute to the circle as well. With natural, barely-touched awe-inspiring landscapes, one must often wonder just how much of it is real and how much is computer generated but logic soon wins over that argument -- no man-made creation ever looked this good.
There's something for almost everyone to be had in EARTH. There's certainly no shortage of cuteness and aww moments and plenty of babies to keep the younger set amused. Some footage is so beyond cute, in fact, it looks straight out of a Disney animated film. Of course a key component of life is death and EARTH looks it straight in the eye - okay, it does manage to avoid eye contact here. Be it natural or unfortunate submission to a predator, only insects and fish manage to be shown devoured. The larger, more identifiable-slash-cuter animals end up engaging in what tends to look like little more than a friendly game of tag and the movie seems content only in the implied narrative (read: plenty of 'what's going to happen to..., Mommy?' moments -- consider yourself warned).
There's even something for the suspense fans -- The Blair Witch Project has nothing on real life when a pride of lions confronts a herd of elephants one night at the local watering hole. Shot completely in night-vision to prevent interference, the images and sounds of the lions as they rally around the herd to successfully take down an adult elephant is just downright terrifying. The narration thankfully reminds us that in this situation, the elephants are virtually blind while the lions can see quite well in the dark. Unfortunately the film doesn't always seem to offer enough background information in my opinion, but this scene alone makes up for it.
The other co-star in the production is the technology enlisted to capture the amazing scenes on film. Aerial photography shot over 250 days used gyro-stabilized Cineflex aerial camera systems with powerful lenses to be able to provide anything from an extreme close-up to dwarfing individual animals against the oft barren landscapes they traverse in the interest of survival, all performed at a distance great enough as to not interfere with the subjects in any way. High-speed cameras originally developed for crash testing cars were used to capture and slow down scenes in a way never before seen. Recording the action at a whopping 1,000 frames per second (comparatively, film is normally shot at a rate of 24 fps), the cameras record directly to a computer hard drive in full resolution and allows the filmmakers to turn a four second event into over five minutes without loss of quality (but don't worry, it never gets to that extreme). This process allows us to savor every detail as a cheetah quickly takes down its prey or a great white shark breaches the waters to launch an attack. The film also makes very gratuitous use of this effect when showing baby ducks taking their first flight. It also never shows the slowed down sequences in real-time which could be just as equally impressive, if not more so.
As expected in documentaries of its kind, time lapse photography is the go-to effect as nature sometimes takes a little longer to work its magic than one might have time and patience for. At times the effect appears to be used ad nauseam, but overall, it provides some amazing eye candy. There are scenes in which plants grow and flowers bloom that look like they came straight out of a live-action Fantasia. The Planet Earth series also presented this technique in a whole new way as it makes it appear as if the camera is slowly panning over large areas of land over a period of months as its inhabitants morph throughout the seasons. Flawlessly edited to look like a simple 10 second shot, it's as if time and nature collaborated with the filmmakers to produce the effect. I fell in love with that technique on my television and I couldn't have been happier to see it again on the big screen.
Instrumental music appears as a supporting player in EARTH and frequently changes to suit the on screen mood. As the subjects and story change, so does the tempo and genre of the music. Sometimes it blends in seamlessly, sometimes it's a key contributor to the humor of a particular scene and some times, particularly for the baboon segment, it would seem more at home in a film not worthy of a G rating (if you know what I mean). A more engaging soundtrack would have made the film that much better, but it appears John Williams may have been pre-occupied with writing themes for other planets instead.
The film runs just shy of ninety minutes, but does appear to drag on at times despite a noble attempt to switch the pace to keep it interesting. Fortunately those moments are few and far between. As the much-shorter-than-average end credits roll thanks to a nearly SAG-less cast, we are treated to footage of the only humans seen in the film, the unsung heroes who literally risked their lives to capture the imagery on film.
All said and done, EARTH is a celebration of life here on the big blue planet. Explored through the eyes of those few of us know, in places few of us have seen, the tribute to our planet in a format such as this is long overdue. Despite the film being released on Earth Day, you won't be getting a heavy-handed message here or a doomsday outlook. Global climate changes are mentioned not in name, but merely hinted at: the deserts are growing each year and the ice at the poles melts earlier each year, placing animals' survival at risk. The narration blames the early warming for the death of an adult polar bear unable to hunt food, but doesn't go as far as to mention that the species is considered vulnerable or threatened.
4 out 5.
EARTH opens nationwide April 22 and has been rated G by the Motion Picture Association of America.
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