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: 4 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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.

The Film:

What don’t we get? With all of the scientific studies, the facts, and of course, the slew of nature documentaries, we still don’t get that we have a very direct causes in Earth’s survival. It’s a gigantic butterfly effect, set on a huge scale with all of humans 6 billion members. That could lead to absolute catastrophe. I always liked this line in 1999′s The Matrix when Agent Smith is talking to Morpheus: “I’d like to share a revelation that I’ve had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you’re not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.” Seems fitting, huh?

The so called human footprint has entirely disrupted our way of life. Home is, yes, another documentary in a long line of Eco-friendly films, but it is a gorgeously shot film filled with incredible aerial footage. Any documentary whose subject is the planet, must deal with the comparisons of BBC‘s amazing Planet Earth. What’s different with Home, compared to that miniseries, is Home doesn’t tackle individual sections of life and locations, but presents our origin, in relation to Earth’s. Think of Home as a primer course, to a full course that was Planet Earth. Midway through, Home focuses on our raping of natural resources and the butterfly effect it has caused. There is a moment of concern, as images seem to be a prelude to something worse. The opening scenes of Soylent Green don’t seem so far-fetched. It’s terrifying. Not just for us, but for our world, the holy grail of scientific possibilities that through a mysterious spark, caused life.

Home isn’t all doom-and-gloom, the film ends with facts of disruption to the balance of life on Earth from us, but offers what IS being done, and most importantly, what can be accomplished. So, what don’t you get? Home might not offer anything new to the fire of discussion of preservation and global warming, and it does drag here and there, but the stunning footage by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, all aerial, makes this another worthy look to companion pieces like 11^th Hour and An Inconvenient Truth.

The Blu Ray:

Audio/Video: Home is absolutely beautiful on high definition. I could give you a ton of examples filled with words of praise, but if you are even mildly interested in seeing this, do yourself a favor and rent/buy this on Blu Ray. The audio is equally as good, but it’s mostly dialogue and a wonderful score. Nice bass levels for this nice DTS track. A great presentation from Fox.

Sadly, no extras are here.

Conclusion: Yes, another nature documentary, filled with preachy words of wisdom..so? See it and see it on Blu Ray.

The Film: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The Blu Ray: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The Film:

Werner Herzog is a strange beast, a director of passion and conflict, one who always makes something interesting. To me, he is a director, not just a title placed over his name. Whether it’s a short subject, a documentary, or a feature film, he directs because there’s something within the subject that brings something out in him. I’m no Herzog scholar, but in his newest documentary, his trademarks are here. He uses his soft voice as our guide into it’s an examination of the subject, his love for man and nature are obviously present, and the film has a long lasting effect on you after you’ve seen it. Although, this doesn’t have a potent effect on me like Grizzly Man did.

I was constantly wondering in this film what was so interesting for Herzog to capture. He claimed this was an assignment for the National Geographic Society and he didn’t want to film penguins. He heads to Antarctica to visit McMurdo Research Station, the largest human population on the continent. He films the place, the people and the lifestyle there, but he is dispassionate about them. He quickly loses interest in the people. After a few interviews he starts to edit out their lives, their stories, even their research; he scoffs at them almost mockingly. Sure the penguin researcher is odd and antisocial but his work is intriguing. Herzog doesn’t like him, it’s readily apparent. Fine, but it makes us the audience feel uneasy. If you don’t like these people then why film them?

Herzog’s passion is the wildlife and it shows. He lovingly films under the ice, showcasing incredible beauty. It’s the film’s highlight; exquisite filming of an undiscovered world. Vast ice landscapes, underwater palaces, and deep eye-opening volcanoes are so lavishly filmed; this might have been a segment of BBC/Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth series. The most haunting scene is a lost penguin that is unknowingly headed to death as he walks away from where it is suppose to go. They were unable to interfere and save it, it’s a rule, but as an image it’s a cold reminder that nature works in mysterious ways as they do not know why it did that.

There’s a moment in which some researchers discover a new species. Herzog asks how important this is and they respond very. We don’t get anymore insight into it. Sadly, the film plays out much like a travelogue of a place no one will probably ever visit and as such, it’s beautiful and surreal. As a documentary there’s nothing to interesting going on. Perhaps this more of a job than a personal one for Herzog? He shows this wide angle shot of the McMurdo Research Society and bulldozers are sweeping across the snow. It looks horrible, as the bulldozer’s exhaust creates a lot of black in the snow and Herzog exclaims he hated it there and heads into the wild in the next shot. With Encounters at the End of the World Herzog recognizes mankind’s fate: we are destined to destroy whatever we touch.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: For a documentary, the audio is really good. We get Herzog’s soft voice coming from the center channel but the beautiful score comes in from all speakers even making some warm bass passages. Video wise, perhaps a great candidate for Blu Ray, is spectacular. There’s some scenes shot in some different quality but overall a good looking and sounding disc.

Disc 1:

Commentary: Herzog pretty much does the commentary in the film anyway, but this is a decent track with more technical mumbo jumbo for film geeks and production history. Again, it’s a decent listen, especially for Herzog fans.

Under the Ice: 35 more minutes of the under water photography. This is pretty good.

Dive Locker Interview: Key things about diving under ice, mostly for scuba people.

Above the Ice: more deleted footage.

Disc 2:

Jonathan Demme interviews Werner Herzog:  I liked this better than the film itself, as Demme interviews Herzog for close to 70 minutes about film, documentaries, and other great film geek stuff.

Conclusion: It’s decent doc, but nothing great. The extras, especially the disc two interviews are worth renting alone for. Herzog fans only.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars