Earth – Blu-ray Review
The Flick
For a while now I’ve been listening to both film fans and critics alike argue about the validity of the Disney film Earth. Most of the arguing stems from the fact that the film itself is a combination of footage from the amazing documentary series Planet Earth and never before seen footage that was shot but not used in the documentary. Why cut up a series and turn recycle it into a feature film? There are a variety of reasons for Disney to do this, one being money. If they recycle footage that they already own into a feature film then they get to capitalize on the same product twice, but I think the main reason for doing so was to connect with their younger audience.
My son wasn’t interested in seeing Planet Earth, but he was extremely excited about seeing Earth. Why? Because Earth focuses on three distinct narratives instead of the huge scope of the entire planet. It follows a polar bear and her cub as they scavenge for food in a barren, yet beautiful landscape, a humback whale and calf as they travel through dangerous waters on their way to Antarctica, and a herd of elephants that do their best to survive in a very unforgiving environment while being hunted by predators.
These animals, and the various others that are introduced throughout the film are intriguing to children as well as adults, and spark curiosity and wonder. My kids love animals, and after watching this movie they wanted nothing more than to learn about the amazing creatures they watched in their struggle for survival. Rarely is a movie both enjoyable and educational, but Earth is. It doesn’t toggle around the hardships these animals face in their everyday lives, and it opens up worlds that most people, young and old will never see.
Earth is a beautiful film that separates itself from Planet Earth nicely, and it is positively a killer film.
The Blu-Ray
Audio/Video
The audio track perfectly accents the beautiful 1080p transfer. The sound of the world are perfectly mixed and sounded wonderful on my surround sound. The video is crisp and clear, with bold colors.
Special Features
Earth Diaries: This behind-the-scenes documentary looks at the production from the filmmakers’ point of view. It brilliantly illustrates the challenges that the filmmakers went through in order to obtain the beautiful footage that made it into the film.
Filmmaker Annotations: This picture-in-picture track was pretty neat. I don’t usually enjoy these types of features, but this one was on par with the behind-the-scenes feature, offering up a plethora of information about the production.
Living Menu: I didn’t enjoy this feature all that much, but I can see how it could be cool. Viewers click on a spot on the Earth and are treated to information on the area they clicked. If it was more thoroughly populated this would have been a pretty cool feature, but as it stands I didn’t love it as much as I did the rest of the content on the disc.
DVD Copy: As with most of the new Disney releases a standard definition DVD is packaged in with the blu-ray disc. I think this a pretty cool feature because it allows me to let my kids enjoy the flick in their rooms and I don’t have to unplug my blu-ray player and move it from room to room.
Overall this is a solid disc that is worth the price for the re-watch value alone, not to mention the awesome features packed into the disc. A film that teaches while it entertains, Earth is a fun experience for the whole family.
The Flick: Rating: 
The Blu-ray Rating:
Don’t forget to support Killer Film by clicking on the Blu-ray cover above or any  Blu-ray or DVD to purchase them from Amazon, because every Blu-ray or DVD sold from this site sends a little coin our way and that coin helps us stay online.
