Film  

It’s difficult to classify or label life’s status when considering Planet Earth.  Is it a sequel?  Well, we’re talking documentaries here so the term ‘sequel’ doesn’t really apply.  This is more or less an extension of its precursor, without the concept of a story.  The BBC could have easily titled this Planet Earth: Volume 2 and it would have made perfect sense.  Nevertheless, life is a deserving title to this ten-episode, four-disc set containing over 8 hours of footage.  The material is educational, entertaining, and once again, holds several minutes of rare moments in the animal world.

Unlike Planet Earth though, this piece goes into much greater detail on explaining the how’s and why’s of the animal kingdom.  For instance, I bet you didn’t know that a chameleon’s tongue travels at a speed of 50 feet per second or that the Japanese mudskipper breathes through its skin.  These are just a few of the curiously interesting bits of information and visuals you will witness when watching life.  This series left me in absolute awe as the little miracles that surround us never cease to amaze me and many of the scenes are so clear and inviting that you would think you are viewing them through a window.

The Blu-ray is actually available in two options; the U.S. version with Oprah Winfrey narrating and the British version with David Attenborough narrating.  In all honesty, I was not crazy with Oprah doing the talking before I watched either version, as I would have much preferred the Attenborough performance.  After all, the guy was stellar in his duties on the Planet Earth series.  Still, the U.S. version is what I was provided so it is that which I will grade.

In the end, Oprah did a decent job with her vocal delivery, carrying audiences through the wonderful worlds experienced on this title.  She doesn’t have the dedicated narrator voice the Mr. Attenborough does, but she gets the point across and has done better than most celebrity narrators I’ve come across.  If you would rather experience life without the interference of a human voice, you can always watch the footage minus the narration.

Disc 1
• Challeneges of life
• Reptiles and Amphibians
• Mammals

Disc 2
• Fish
• Birds
• Insects

Disc 3
• Hunters and Hunted
• Creatures of the Deep
• Plants

Disc 4
• Primates
• The Making of life
• Deleted Scenes

Video  

Displayed in a VC-1 encode with a 1.77:1 aspect ratio, life is easily a top 5 example of 1080p resolution.  The colors are lush and vivid, the footage is crisp, and the detail is uncanny as viewers’ eyes will stay glued to the picture quality.  The slow motion footage is highly complimented by the high resolution picture as is every little speck of dirt on a rainforest leaf or the stray plankton floating through a Pacific current.

It really does not get any better than this unless you grab your boots or scuba gear and go on location with the series’ cameramen.  The visual performance is definitely the high point on the four discs.  One problem I had with Planet Earth was that it offered some of the best and worst Blu-ray had to offer in terms of appearance.  There was incredible detail throughout, yet some instances contained a great big distraction of visual noise.  Now take the first part of that, minus the second, and you have the video quality of life.

Audio  

The sound is delivered mildly, in that this a front speaker-heavy audio presentation.  The rear channels are used but not enough.  For example, when I see 200,000 penguins in Antarctica and they’re all squawking, I want to hear squawking behind me, in front of me, to the sides, etc., not just a slight carrying of sound through those rear channels.  You can forget about the subwoofer as that piece of equipment doesn’t get much employment at all here.

When carrying the DTS-HD Master Audio label, I thought there would be better use of a surround sound system as a whole.  Some of the scenes have an all-encompassing experience, but not most.  Even so, that majority of the masses will not be disappointed.  You won’t be straining to hear anything and the overall track is intelligible.  Audiophiles, however, will be left wanting more.

Special Features  

For starters, I am very happy to report that all the extras are in 1080i or p high definition.  That seems to be a big hurdle for production teams to get over.  I’m not sure why they can’t grasp it, but if I have a high def disc, don’t give me standard def pieces-parts!  Fortunately, BBC had the sense to give us watchable extras.  Each episode has its own “Making of” featurette that can be found on the same disc as the actual episode.  These featurettes are all narrated by David Attenborough and all hover around the 11-minute realm as far as runtime is concerned.  Disc 4 contains a segment piece of deleted scenes which are narrated by Oprah Winfrey.  As for the quality of any of these extras, they are as good as gold, not straying from the quality of the actual documentary.

Making Of…
• Challenges of life (11:03)
• Reptiles & Amphipians (10:59)
• Mammals (11:02)
• Fish (10:58)
• Birds (11:00)
• Insects (10:56)
• Hunters & Hunted (10:27)
• Creatures of the Deep (11:10)
• Plants (10:37)
• Primates (10:59)
Deleted Scenes (18:09)

Final Thoughts  

With a near magical display of earth’s creatures, there is no passing up life on the store shelf or in your online shopping cart.  Providing a sole focus on creatures and not splitting time between creatures and environments (as in Planet Earth), viewers familiar with Planet Earth can enjoy more of that series’ style here as well as the more devoted animal focus.  Newcomers to BBC’s line of nature productions are truly in for a treat with the beauty and education in store for them.  Young and old, casual or conservationist, life offers a majestic and rare look at some of the wonders of the animal kingdom around us.

Bring home Life today on Blu-ray!

Film

The documentary Wild Pacific, also called “South Pacific” in other regions, covers the islands and waters throughout the Pacific Ocean. I prefer the title South over Wild, due to the fact that those who have seen the other BBC documentary “Wild China”, may attribute the lower quality of that doc with this one.

Wild Pacific is a 6 part BBC miniseries, which not only covers the Southern section of the Pacific but the entire Pacific. Unlike Planet Earth, this documentary series covers not only wildlife and locations, but also the people who inhabit the islands in the pacific. I prefer the footage of wildlife doing extraordinary things that are rarely caught on film or capturing the amazing vistas that our world has, but spicing it up with groups of people living in these remote areas is just as interesting.

Although, Wild Pacific has some great cinematography, a lot of it pales in comparison to Planet Earth. There are some interesting shots and there’s definitely some awesome events captured well, for example the tiger sharks capturing the albatross chicks, however some of the more engaging filmmaking techniques are wasted on shots that simply aren’t of something as cool. Do I want to see super slow-mo shots of a surfer? I’d much rather see the underwater volcanoes pouring out the ash and magma in slow-mo.

Although it’s not as well-made as Planet Earth, Wild Pacific does have some great shots and captures some very cool events. I find that BBC is one of the forerunners of the best documentaries presently around and Wild Pacific, although may not be a prime example of it, is still a great doc to watch. Just like other BBC documentaries such as Wild China, Ganges and Galapagos; although none of them are as solid as Planet Earth or Life, they all have great qualities that make them worthwhile watches.

Video

Wild Pacific’s video is displayed in the aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and uses the VC-1 codec, unfortunately the resolution is not full HD. We’ve got yet another BBC documentary released in 1080i, which is always disappointing. I watched the documentary on my 1080p projector and immediately noticed the inferior resolution, however watching it on a 100” screen is a bit of a torture test. For those one smaller TVs, the resolution isn’t as bad. I actually watched part of the doc on my 27” 1080i monitor and it looked fine.

Motion is crisp on smaller TVs even for interlaced footage and the colours are vivid. The black levels are nice and deep while maintaining a dynamic colour brightness range. It’s definitely a great example of good looking 1080i footage, to the untrained eye, it’ll look just fine.

Audio

Wild Pacific’s audio comes at us using the English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 codec and comes with English subtitles. Unlike the video quality, where we see a prime example of quality overcoming technical limitation (1080i), we’re given an audio codec capable of the best, and the quality doesn’t come close.

The audio is quality isn’t bad, but there’s very little to no atmospheric qualities from the surrounds, the mix is very front heavy. Also it’s obvious  at times that a lot of foley was used to recreate some scenes, but considering I was so enthralled into the amazing visuals, it’s hard to notice any real deficiencies in the mix.

There’s decent dynamic range and while the subwoofer doesn’t get used much, there is some subtle low frequencies that come in nicely, especially in the score. So although we don’t get some of a surrounding effect, the mix does its job, while we’re distracted by great looking footage.

Special Features

Each episode comes with a 10 minute behind-the-scenes video diary highlighting some of the ways the filmmakers captured certain shots and parts. It’s definitely a cool bonus that wasn’t included when the mini-series aired and it’s definitely a testament to the trials and tribulations these filmmakers had to go through; from tight quarters to insane shooting environments.

Although this is considered a special feature, it’s tagged onto the ending of each episode. There aren’t actually any standalone features, which is why it only gets “2”. I think an overall look at the making of the series would’ve been nice as well as some extra footage that may have been cut.

Final Thoughts

BBC delivers another good documentary covering the Wild Pacific; with good looking video and decent audio, Wild Pacific is a good watch for those who enjoy documentaries. Unfortunately, with sparse special features and an overall short running time, this would make a better rental than purchase.

Film   

IMAX: Under the Sea is a spectacular look into the coral depths of various parts of the Pacific ranging from Indonesia to Australia.  Narrated by actor/comedian Jim Carrey, the Hollywood funny man serenely guides viewers through the densely populated ocean floor of coral reefs where life is abound in many different forms and colors.  Documentaries aren’t for everyone as far as casual viewing goes, but Under the Sea proves to be quite the educational and even entertaining piece as audiences will gain an education on the various species of fish, sea snake and cuttlefish just to name a few.  From the world’s most venomous fish, the stonefish, to the mysteriously primitive nautilus and the playful sea lions of Oceana, IMAX brings to you an appealing production that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

My only complaint about this film was selecting Jim Carrey as the narrator.  He doesn’t turn into his on-screen persona, so no worries there.  However, his vocal coverage of the material just didn’t draw me in.  I can’t say it was annoying, but it just didn’t retain the commanding presence of someone like Liam Neeson or Harrison Ford.  I’m not saying it had to be one of those guys, but they would have been a better fit.  Considering the narrator is your guide in IMAX films, it is a fairly significant issue of who the production team chooses to present the dialogue.  That aside, it is no deal-breaker and viewers will still be able to enjoy a beautifully presented experience.

Video 

This disc utilizes a VC-1 encode, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and the obvious 1080p high def resolution in its visual presentation.  The bottom line to all that is this is not one of, but thee most beautiful Blu-ray disc I have ever laid my eyes upon.  Perhaps this is due in part to Mother Nature being a better provider of beauty and eye-catching phenomena that computer generated imagery could ever hope to give us.  Advantages of content aside, there was not one bit of grain in this film.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zilch.  The array of reef colors and the details of the life that call the reefs home was nothing less than pristine and is without a doubt, reference quality material.  The filmmakers captured the magnificence of aquatic life with obvious expertise, which is blatantly apparent in the content and quality of that content captured here.

Audio 

Though not as striking as the visuals, the audio is impressively relayed through the variety of speakers in your home’s surround sound, save for the subwoofer.  Jim Carrey’s narration is delivered through the front speakers along with the music and some underwater sounds.  The front-side and rear channels also bring forth the disc’s musical soundtrack and a few oceanic sounds such as air bubbles and a snapping fish.  Again, the only drawback is with the narrative.  In this case, it is not that it is with Carrey himself, but the recorded volume of his narration.  It just came across a bit too low, not to the point of being out of earshot, but low enough to recognize that an improvement could have been made.  All in all, you will find a very fitting soundtrack carried to your ears as each tune is accurately accompanying the scene on screen, beautifully captured ambient sounds of the undersea with a mild Jim Carrey dialogue.

Special Features 

With a 40-minute, 51-second main feature, one cannot expect too much content to appear on the disc’s extras.  Such is the case with IMAX: Under the Sea as there is less than 20 minutes of goodies here.  They are all displayed in 1080i, though I beg to differ on the true high definition labeling of all the extra content.  Many of the shots in the field are rough and very dvd-looking.  The quick interview shots with people like director Howard Hall are indeed flawless, true high def.

• Behind the Story – Filming IMAX: Under the Sea – This provides a brief experience of what went into making this documentary (7:17).
• Expeditions – With five featurettes in all, they take viewers on a quick journey into the various shooting locations of Under the Sea (12:06).  They are as follows:
o Papua New Guinea – New Britain
o Papua New Guinea – Milne Bay
o South Australia
o The Great Barrier Reef
o Indonesia

Final Thoughts  

Anything short of buying this on Blu-ray is a mistake.  The world recorded on this disc is far too beautiful to be watched on the standard definition of dvd.  IMAX: Under the Sea is a quick, educational film that is the crème de la crème of visual presentation.

Bring home IMAX: Under the Sea today on Blu-ray!

Then the news came out that Michael Jackson’s rehearsals had been filmed and his camp released some rather short rehearsal footage taken a few days before his death which seemed to indicate that he had been in good health prior to his death. Then came word that a feature film would be released pieced together with the rehearsal as well as other footage to give fans a glimpse of what the This Is It tour was going to be like had it debuted in London. The film, released to theaters for 2 weeks was a huge hit. I missed it in theaters but was really impressed with the video and audio quality on a trailer for the Blu-ray release included on a recent Sony release. Would the look and sound of the feature release even exceed the trailer?

Film 

This film is clearly made for Michael Jackson fans. If you are a fan of Michael Jackson and his music, you will simply love this film. If you aren’t, I guess there will be no need for you to experience the film, other than for some sense of historic curiosity. Most of the film was shot at the rehearsals at The Staples Center in LA in the weeks before his death.

Some of the footage was shot at sessions where the dancers were selected and others at studios where new footage to serve as intros and backdrops for songs such as Thriller were shot as well as some pre-production meetings. Several full length or nearly full length song performances are pieced together from several different rehearsals and are the highlights of the film. These songs include Thriller, Wanna Be Startin Something, Beat It, a Jackson 5 medley, Billie Jean, Man In The Mirror and Human Nature, just to name a few.

Some of the performances are better than others as Michel Jackson is clearly trying to preserve his voice over what appear to be many grueling rehearsals. On occasion, he really gets into the performances vocally. Billie Jean isn’t one of them however. You will be disappointed if you go into the film expecting to see him at his best as though he was performing live for an audience rather than for the crew. However, what is clear from the footage in the film is that he was still able to perform and appeared to be in excellent shape, although he does appear to lack some of the explosiveness he had as a younger man. However, he was still as light on his feet as always.

It is just as clear that fans would have loved the planned show as it was a real spectacle. If you are a huge fan of Michael Jackson, this release is a must buy. For the rest of you, I would recommend that you at least give it a rental. Who knows, you may even enjoy it.

Video 

I must admit that I have been struggling with my rating for the overall video on this release. The HD footage was shot with state of the art Red One cameras is simply fantastic and among the best looking HD video I have ever seen. The HD footage has incredible levels of clarity, depth and detail that are just staggering. The colors are bright and bold yet natural, with deep and stable blacks and is fully worthy of a 5 stars if not higher rating, it is that good. However, included along with the HD footage are significant pieces of standards definition footage, which is no where near as impressive as the HD stuff.

This footage is presented as letterboxed SD content. As a result, it has black bars on the top and bottom in addition to the sides. There also appears to be some widescreen SD material. While I was not using a stopwatch, the majority of the film features the stunning HD video from the Red One cameras and is simply amazing. However, there is enough rather mediocre SD material included that I felt I had to reduce the score just a bit, from an otherwise perfect 5 star presentation.

Audio 

If I could only use one word to describe the audio on this release, it would be magnificent. Yes, it is that good. This is simply spectacular stuff. Where do I begin? The overall fidelity is excellent, with a smoothness, openness and transparency that I have yet to experience in a concert video. Bass response is off the charts with deep and throbbing bass lines driving most of the songs, without a hint of bloat. The surrounds are also aggressively creating a sense of total immersion. If you ever wondered what a sound check sounded like in an empty arena such as The Staples Center, you will find out here. The audio on this release is nearly, if not, perfect. How can you improve on perfect? You can’t. Enough said.

Special Features 

As one would have expected, this release is filled with extras, all of which are presented in HD. The extras include several featurettes including “Staging The Return: The Adventure Begins” which details the origins of the tour and the rehearsals as well as the creation of the whole show. In Staging The Return: Beyond The Show” director Kenny Ortega and his crew discuss the final rehearsals, their final moments with Michael Jackson and the reasons why the film was created. In “The Gloved One”, costume designer Zaldy takes you behind the scenes as the costumes were created and shows the final products, many of which Michael Jackson never was able to see before his death. In “Memories of Michael” members of the show’s crew and management team discuss some of their personal recollections of Michael Jackson. The featurette “Auditions: Searching for the World’s Best Dancers” chronicles just that, with 5,000 applicants for 11 available positions.

Also included is the Smooth Criminal vignette that was to be shown before the concert performance of the song, presented in HD and 5.1 Dolby Digital. Also included is the new vignette filmed for the performance of Thriller likewise presented in HD and 5.1 Dolby Digital. The release is BD-Live enabled and features movieIQ, which enables you to access real-time information about the cast, music and trivia, while watching the movie. The theatrical trailer for the film is also included. A digital copy is not included.

Final Thoughts 

This Is It offers a fascinating insight into the final days of Michael Jackson as well as the creative process behind his planned final concert tour. It offers exceptional and reference audio and video presentations and is a must have for Michael Jackson fans. Even if you aren’t a fan of the man or his music, the audio and video are of such high quality that you should give this release a look, if only on the basis of a rental.

Film

‘Dogtown and Z Boys‘ follows a group of teenage surfer/skateboarders who revolutionized skateboarding through the seventies. The film opens up with a brief history of where Dogtown is and takes through the history of the Zephyr shop started by Jeff Ho, Skip Engblom and Craig Stecyk.

Starting as a innovative surf shop it soon became the home of the Z-Boys, a group of young rebels who used their surfing techniques to completely revolutionize skateboarding, At the time skateboarding was on the same wavelength with the yo-yo and the Frisbee, a simple childish toy, but with the help of the Z-Boys skate team from Santa Monica.

The film does a great job showing how the Zephyr shop not only had an important role in what would become modern skateboarding, but also how it’s style and art became a culture (mostly due to Jeff Ho’s artwork).

The pace of the film and editing makes the watch enjoyable, there are a few slower parts but overall I was enthralled in the documentary. I was impressed at how interested I was, knowing nothing about skateboarding and it’s culture.

There are some annoying qualities of the film, mostly technical related so I’ll save those for the other categories, but there’s some screw-ups left in the narration by Sean Penn that were left in (one flubbed line in particular where he coughs). Although it’s not a big deal, but it made me feel like they were trying to create this grungy and low-budgeted and it really felt fake to me.

Overall the documentary was well made and it did its job in both being entertaining and being insightful.

Video

Ah the glorious wonder of watching a film on Blu-ray that consists mostly of super-8mm footage shot in the seventies. The grainy and scratched up film used in the transfer is painful to watch… It’s as if someone used one of those ‘Old film’ filters onto the video.

However it’s great to actually have some footage to see history in the making, rather than just hearing people talk about it or having to sit through renactments.

The interviews themselves are grainy as well and were probably shot using older mini-dv cameras, however they’re not as hard to watch.

Although it’s presented in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4, I feel that the codec is wasted on such low quality video, in 4:3 aspect ratio.

Audio

The audio is presented in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround Sound but besides the soundtrack (which is a pretty full catalogue of great hard rock from the classic rock era) there’s nothing really utilized besides the center channel for dialogue.

Overall the dialogue is clean and the music selection is a great companion to the subject matter, so for a documentary that’s pretty much all you need

Special Features

Most of the special features consist of more old footage of skating, with a few exceptions such as The State of Pool Skating (which is new skate footage). Overall the selection of special features is nice considering some of the bare bones discs I’ve come across recently.

The commentary is great, mostly because I thought Stacy Peralta’s interviews throughout the film were the most engaging, so it was nice to hear some more about the documentary through his P.O.V..

There are a couple duds, such as the multi-angle sequences which are, as advertised, simply another camera’s P.O.V. of the skating. Also there’s the “That was a stupid question” which is the interviewees talking back to the interviewer (Peralta) saying they don’t like certain questions. Also the Jeff Ho 200 video is an audio-less clip of Peralta and Jeff Jo in Hawaii.

One of the better special features is Tony Alva Art Show, which is a glimpse into one of Alva’s art shows that showcases similar art to that which made the Zephyr shop a cultural staple. Also the “Lords of Dogtown webisodes” behind the scenes mini-featurettes about the film are a great addition.

Final Thoughts

I was surprised with how much I enjoyed Dogtown and Z-Boys and I felt that although it may not be a Blu-ray I would be attracted to, it’s a great example of not judging a book by its cover. I think that if you even have a small interest in skateboarding, than this film will mean a lot more than it did for a non-skater, but even for those who might just be looking for a compelling watch, then this might be one to look into.

Film

Food, Inc. is so shocking on so many different levels, that I really don’t know how to begin, other than to say I will never look at the beef and chicken I am served the same way again.

The film takes an in depth look at the food industry in the United States and how control over that industry rests with a few companies. Such control concentrated in the hands of a few is not in and of itself a bad thing. However, what those companies do with that control is a bad thing and is what is truly the most shocking aspect of the film.

When I travel overseas, I am almost always amazed at how much better the food tastes in Europe (with the exception of the UK) than it does here. The reasons for that are made obvious in this film, with the use of corn vs. grass to feed cattle, being one of the most obvious, as it the overall living conditions which we put the cattle, poultry and hogs through. The conditions are so appalling that they should disgust just about everyone. I know they did me. Feeding animals food that they were not designed to eat and keeping them in truly squalid can’t make for good tasting meat and it really shows.

Do yourself a favor and purchase some organically grown beef and chicken and see the difference for yourself. While the treatment the food companies afford the animals, is bad enough, the effect that their food ingredients, namely corn, have on humans is just as appalling. It seems that all of the processed foods we purchase at the store have as their main ingredient either corn or some corn derivative. Cane sugar has been replaced with high fructose corn syrup, which is a cause, not only of the astronomically high levels of obesity in the US, but of the high levels of diabetes in the lower economic levels of our country, who just can afford to eat any better. This stuff simply does not belong in our food and the sooner we can have it removed the better.

The most alarming thing about this film is how it shows that as a society, we are eating ourselves to death, with our diets chock full of ingredients that are not only of questionable nutritional value, but down right dangerous to eat.

All is not lost however, as the film shows how some companies are waking up to this fact and are making an effort to improve their products and go organic and how even companies like Wal-Mart have seen the light and are making a real conscious effort to offer organic products in their stores. If you haven’t seen this film, you really need to. It will really make you re-evaluate the food you purchase at the store and make you very conscious of what is on the labels of the food you do buy. Highly recommended.

Video

While I was shocked at the message this film conveys about the quality of our food supply, I was not surprised by the overall video quality of this release which is about what I anticipated it to be. While the new footage shot for the film is quite good, the film is so chock full of older footage with poor image quality that I felt compelled to drop the overall score below that of 4 stars. The new footage is without question worthy of a 4 star rating and above. It is just that there isn’t enough of it to bring the overall score up to a 4.

The new footage has good overall clarity with bright, bold and natural colors including skin tones and good if not quite inky blacks. The rest of the film is often grainy and in poor physical condition with poor color reproduction and poor detail. Given that is is a documentary relying often on stock footage, I was not surprised by the overall look of the film. If you are looking for a sleek looking high def transfer, Food, Inc. is not the film for you.

Audio

As was the case with the video, the audio here is just about what I expected for a documentary. If you are looking for sound that will impress visitors to your theater, this is also not the release for you. The film’s sound design is rather basic being very front heavy and just as well could have just as well have been a stereo mix rather than the 5.1 mix provided here. There is little use of the surrounds with the audio coming from the front three speakers for the most part. The overall sound quality is just of average quality, with little in the way of dynamics or impact. The real impact is provided by the narrative, not the sound design or quality of the audio. While I always appreciate a lossless audio encode, the use of DTS HD Master Audio here is overkill, given the nature and quality of the sound design.

Special Features

The real star here is the film itself. However, there are several extras that are worth your time. The most interesting are the deleted scenes which really expand on some of material already appearing in the film. Also included are numerous public service announcements by TV and film personalities and a segment about the film that appeared on ABC News Nightline entitled “You Are What You Eat: Food With Integrity. Also included is a short cartoon featurette The Amazing Food Detective and Smacktown Smackdown where kids save their town by removing the junk food from the town’s vending machines and replacing it with healthy food. Other than the deleted scenes, there is really little in the way of worthwhile extras included here.

Final Thoughts

While not exactly featuring stellar audio and video, Food, Inc. is such a compelling film about an extremely important topic, namely our food supply, that is worth a look and is highly recommended.

Being packaged within BCC’s High Definition Collection may cause some, including myself, to compare it with Planet Earth (another documentary within the collection) and as I started watching I found myself waiting to see if it was as good as the remarkable accomplishment that is Planet Earth.

Film

Watching Galapagos really reminds us how amazing nature can be, showing off some of its wildest spectacles and varied types of denizen that occupy this planet with us. It’s definitely a sight to be seen and with Blu-ray format, we get to witness it in all its high def glory.

The documentary focuses on Darwin’s interest with the islands, specifically his theory of evolution being based on what he witnesses through the series of islands. Galapagos was guilty of one thing I despise… Using historical re-enactments. When referring to Darwin’s time there are few uses of props and actors portraying characters. I always preferred going an opposite way, due to the fact I find historical re-enactments to be quite cheesy… However they were well done and actually helped add to the telling of Darwin’s story.

Galapagos sits upon a volcanic hotspot that is constantly erupting and as the magma collects, new islands are formed almost linearly. As the islands form they begin to, overtime, go from being a desolate rock to a blooming ecosystem. It demonstrates the birth of life in such a way that you can see the chronology right in front of you.

Galapagos is a very interesting demonstration in nature, and it has to be seen to be appreciated for what it is. The documentary does it justice, however I am putting this down as a place I need to visit.

Video

Presented in 1.78:1 aspect ratio and using the VC-1 codec, from the start the video quality really stood out, even at 1080i the motion was very smooth and the image was sharp. The colours were quite vivid and weren’t too over saturated. At times it seems that a high speed or other type of camera is used during certain aerial shots of the ocean and the difference of quality is apparent in the handful of shots, but those are few and far between.

The editing in the first half is a little jarring at times, in attempt to get the pace up, it works to their detriment, however again this wasn’t common in the documentary, but every now and again I found myself pulled away saying “Really? I couldn’t see that for a few extra frames?”

Audio

The audio is quite clear, sometimes I begin to wonder if the animal sounds are foley due to the fact that the camera is so far away they must’ve used some amazing microphones to reach that far. Overall the sound was very organic and felt authentic. Listening through 7.1 I found the surround speakers were used mainly for background ambience which did help with the depth however due to the fact the source audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track (448 kbps) you do lose the potential depth and quality that people have come to expect within the HD format.

The score is powerful and, as it’s supposed to, it boosts the emotion of the scenes and really helps the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

The narration is done by Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton, Burn After Reading), she’s a natural narrator and was clear and precise during the entire documentary. That being said the narration didn’t go outside of the box and like most others was quite monotone and I found myself drifting away from the narration and focusing on the stunning visuals.

Special Features

Unfortunately Galapagos is a bare bones Blu-ray, there are no special features.

Final Thoughts

The documentary itself is quite interesting and using very impressive cinematography it definitely represents the facts in an appealing way… If only today’s educational system could take page out of these documentarian’s book.

As I said before, I did compare Planet Earth to Galapagos, without nearly as big a production time, crew or budget it does stand up well. Sometimes it was repetitive, but even Planet Earth repeated itself a bit.

Despite the few minor issues I did think Galapagos was a well-made documentary and utilized beautiful cinematography and a powerful score to create a very appealing experience. However due to the lack of extras Galapagos may be a better rental than a purchase to those who appreciate the special features.

Film

Earth is a nature documentary that was filmed all over the world over a 5 year period. As is the case with Disney nature films, Earth is not a straight nature documentary. Instead, it has a bit of a family focus to it, family friendly if you will, as it follows a trio of families in the wild, a polar bear and her two cubs in the Arctic, an Elephant and her cub in Africa and a humpback whale and her calf as they journey from the tropical waters of the Equator to their feeding grounds off Antarctica.

The film also has more of a warm and fuzzy feeling to it than your typical nature documentary, focusing at times, more on the cuteness of the animals rather than the harsh conditions in the wild. The film also fails to show the wild for what it is at times, gruesome and deadly, as it fails to ever show the death of any actual animals, cutting away at the very end, letting you surmise what happened at the end of the chase. I can only assume that this is the Disney way. However, it does fall a good bit short of reality which, after all, it the very purpose of a nature documentary.

While the folks at Disney may prefer a happier and less gruesome wild, that is just not the way it is out in the wild. The film is well narrated by the great James Earl Jones and features some incredible camera work and visuals. It is the visuals after all that really matter in a nature documentary and the visuals here are simply spectacular, from the white and icy Arctic to the lush greens and fauna of the mid latitudes, the dry and dusty plains of Africa and the beautiful crystal clear blue water of the tropics. While the storytelling here can get a bit too syrupy, the visuals more than make up for that minor drawback, as they are that impressive. Highly recommended.

Video

Simply put, the video quality on this release is fantastic. Try as I might, I could find nothing at all to find fault with on this encode. This is reference material, with incredibly accurate and lifelike colors, deep and rich blacks, bright and bold primary colors and astonishing levels of clarity and detail. You know that this will be great looking film as soon as you see the bright white snow of the Arctic at the beginning of the film. This film simply has it all in terms of image quality, from the whites of the snow, the many different shades of green in the forests, plains and grasslands to the incredible blue waters of the tropics. This is simply as real as it gets folks with the limits of today’s technology, short of actually being there. Each different environment and the varied wildlife are depicted with a staggering degree of realism, detail, depth and three dimensionality. This is an incredible looking disc and as far as I am concerned, the best looking nature documentary yet released on Blu-ray.

Audio

While not quite as impressive as the video presentation, the audio here more than holds its own. The narration by James Earl Jones is captured with exceptional levels of fidelity, capturing the richness of his voice beautifully and placing it perfectly, front and center in the sound field. The same can also be said about the overall fidelity of the entire film, which sounds smooth and rich with excellent levels of transparency and openness and deep and rich bass response.

The audio in the wild sounds very realistic and places you right in the action with the filmmakers. The sounds of the lions as they prepare to attack a heard of elephants is captured with a startling degree of realism. The same can be said of the howling of the wind, thunderstorms, the thundering herd of elephants and the splashing of humpback whales in the sea after breaching. The only real fault I have with the audio here and it is a very small one at that, involves the use of the surrounds. While they are active throughout, I would have preferred that they have been used a bit more aggressively to create a more immersive sound field during the entire film. I would also have preferred a little better integration of the surrounds with the front of the sound field. However, these minor quibbles aside, this is a great sounding film and one that I will not doubt enjoy listening to again and again.

Special Features

Earth is a two disc set, with the first disc containing the Blu-ray copy of the film and the second, a DVD copy of the film so that you can enjoy the film anywhere where a DVD player is available. Any of you with young children will no doubt appreciate this extra which will no doubt come in handy during long trips in the car or on a plane. The Blu-ray disc itself contains two sets of extras, the first being the filmmakers annotations and the second, a making of featurette which I found to be the most interesting of the two.

The making of featurette goes behind the scenes of the making of the film with the director, detailing the five years it took to capture all of the spectacular video featured in the film and the lengths the film crews went to capture it, placing their very lives at risk during the process There is a very interesting scene in the Arctic while filming the polar bears, where one polar bear, smelling cooking food, comes up to and attempts to enter the crew’s hut for a bite to eat, understandably scaring the heck out of the crew. They used all sorts of countermeasures to scare away the polar bear, none of which seemed to work. This footage illustrates the very real hazards that the film crews face when capturing the footage featured in these film, a fact we are often not even mindful of as we enjoy the films. This making of featurette is well worth you time and is at times, just as interesting as the film itself.

Final Thoughts

Earth is a excellent film that features reference level video that is a must own for any fans of nature documentaries. Highly recommended.

Film 

Roy Disney, a man of sailing himself, co-created a concept to take some of the best young sailing talent around the globe, and have them vie for a spot in the TransPac (short for Trans-Pacific).  The TransPac is a 10-day long competition that begins in Los Angeles and concludes in Hawaii at a location known as Diamond Head.  In all, that’s an estimated 2,500 miles that the fleet of aquatic speedsters have to cover in the week and a half window. 

At roughly 90 minutes of airtime, Morning Light gets straight to the point in explaining the scenario.  Of the opening group, 15 finalists are selected.  From that, 11 will commandeer the vessel with the other 4 serving as alternates.  The team goes through a rigorous training regime months before the race, courtesy of the some of the finest coaches and mentors in the sport. 

Once the race begins, the team finds itself neck and neck with a group of very experienced sailors of the Samba Pa Ti (named after the famous Carlos Santana tune).  The film does bring you in but falls just short of keeping viewers on the edge of their seats.  I can’t say there’s a big let-down, certainly not.  But you will find yourself searching for more upon the conclusion of this documentary.  If you are not a sailor, you will feel a bit shorthanded when the credits roll.  Some of the nautical terminology was over my head and while some was explained, the film didn’t do enough to provide greater insight on other things.  If it’s a case of sink or swim, this film does sway towards the latter, yet it’s more like a doggy paddle for your entertainment value. 

Video 

There was one particular scene in the later stages of Morning Light that I had to go back and watch more than once.  The yacht is cruising along at night with a moonlit-drenched seascape gracing the screen while thousands of stars speckle the night sky.  It is the definition of perfect.  In both Blu-ray clarity and nature’s grandeur, it is a scene I have captured in my mind and played over and over again.  In contrast, there are those scenes used with night vision that make the sailors’ eyes look like possessed souls.  Okay, so I can’t fault the video quality there.  Infra-red doesn’t equal high def.

What I can point a finger at is a few of the scenes that contained distracting amounts of grain, pulling my eyes away from the action on the screen.  Thankfully, these do not make up a majority of the film’s clarity.  Nevertheless, it was disappointing to see these.  In addition, there were several landscape shots that were beautiful but flat, if that makes any sense.  For instance, the Morning Light gingerly glides across Hawaiian waters while a very large sun descends below the horizon.  This scene had so much potential to wow the eyes but never quite got there.  It was like a can of flat soda.  Sure it’s the same soda you always drink; same ingredients, same glass, but it just lacked that fizz and resulting kick.  Overall though, I think you’ll like the pristine beauty this disc has to offer.

Audio 

Where the video sometimes lacked, the audio kicks it into high gear.  The salty waves lap against the bow of the nimble yacht through your rear channels while dialogue is driven through the front.  My only disappointment was when the music played through some of the scenes, it pretty much took over the scene.  The bass was thumping plenty and if it were a concert Blu-ray, it would definitely score a 5 out of 5, but when there is still action taking place on screen, it ended up drowning out the commands of the Morning Light skipper as well as the crashing waves.  Perhaps this effect was the intent of the film makers but even so, the experience was not a perfect marriage as things just seemed to audibly collide, but only for a matter of mere seconds.  In some other cases, all you could hear was dialogue while the water was silent (even though waves were still splashing against the side of the boat). 

Special Features 

The extras featured on this disc are great supporting material for the main feature.  A deeper background can be found on how those behind the scenes whittled the list of applicants down to 15 or how the competitors gained an understanding of primitive sailing.  Although there are only 2 extras, I am happy to report that both are in high definition.

• Stories From the Sea – Hosted by Jason Earles – During this featurette, we get a look at some more of the preparation time the Morning Light team went through as well as their history lessons on pre-instrument navigating.  As for who Jason Earles is, well, he’s an entertainer of Hannah Montana fame.  Don’t worry, there’s no hokey-ness involved in his delivery as he does a pretty good job in guiding viewers through this extra (28:32).
• ESPN Special – Morning Light: Making the Cut – While originally airing on ESPN, this piece takes a deeper look at the selection process of potential applicants for the sailing team as well as the elimination process.  It’s actually quite entertaining and eye-opening as you’ll begin to see how some of these cadets basically eliminated themselves through attitude, lack of cohesion with the group, etc. (41:56).

Final Thoughts 

Now, I’m going to be honest; I enjoy the water and I love the beach, but after experiencing undertow in the Atlantic a few years ago, I’m pretty well set as a landlubber these days.  As far as sailing experience goes, I’m fine from the comfort of home with this disc while I’ll leave the real deal to the pros.  Regarding the disc, my first recommendation is a little more in the extras department would have been a nice touch.  Overall though, it is a worthy viewing the whole family can enjoy as the qualities of safety, teamwork and tenacity are driven home by the Morning Light crew and their mentors.  Unfortunately, I can only recommend this is a rental to the non-nautical populace out there.  You’ll get the point of the film in one viewing.  For those who enjoy life on the water, especially all of you sailboat aficionados out there, this is a must-buy.  Whether this disc ends up in your hands through a rental or a purchase, you will find an enjoyable experience brought to us by the creative folks at Disney. 

Film 

Arctic Tale is brought to us by the same folks that produced the award-winning March of the Penguins, but how does it measure up?  Well I’m sure the masterminds behind either film do not want comparisons made of the two as they are different in their own right.  Arctic Tale is narrated by rap artist and actress, Queen Latifah, and is presented in a unique un-documentary-like manner.  The film becomes more of a story as we the viewers follow the perilous treks of Nanoo, a polar bear cub, and Seela, a baby walrus. 

The progress of the film seamlessly transits between the lives of both creatures and the unique challenges each face.  Nanoo relies on her mother to find food, a scarcity for any creature in the punishing cold of the North Pole.  In Seela’s case, one of her earliest challenges was treading 15-foot swells while trying to maintain close proximity with her walrus kin.  Normal obstacles aside, both Nanoo and Seela face a problem that their ancestors never had to go up against…global warming.

The thing about Arctic Tale is how it gets the point across of how unforgiving nature is and how serious global warming is and what it’s doing, but it does it in a very family-friendly way.  This film is perfect for families with wee lads and lasses as it will give them an education without showing footage of a harp seal being devoured by a polar bear.  As it’s done in a story format following the daily activity of two animals, this tends to make it more of a ‘nature film’ as opposed to a documentary, if that makes any sense.  In short, it will hold kids’ attention much easier than sticking them in front of a more in-depth program such as Planet Earth.  Not only that, but the grown-ups can enjoy Arctic Tale just as much as the kids. 

Video 

Presented to us in 1080p with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and an AVC encode, Arctic Tale carried more grain than a feed store.  I cringed in the opening sequence at the lack of clarity, crossing my fingers in hopes that this would improve.  Ironically enough, the scenes on the surface of the polar bears were some of the worst quality while those below the water’s surface provided much more clarity and grain-free viewing.  You would think this would be reversed but alas, it is what it is. 

It did become difficult to focus on those scenes hindered by so much visual interference.  Even overhead shots of the glacial drift and snow-blanketed cliffs possessed an inappropriate amount of dancing grain.  I would have expected more from a film with the National Geographic tag on it.  When averaging out the good shots with the bad, well, it is just average in the end.  There is nothing to write home about here.

Audio 

The audio was much easier on the ears than the video was on the eyes.  I will even go as far to say that it had some surprises.  Let’s be honest.  You do not typically associate the words ‘documentary’ and ‘subwoofer’ in the same sentence.  Low and behold, leave it to the thunderous applause of the sea, engaged by the mighty pole winds, to bring the bass to life.  Don’t expect the feat to occur often in the film, nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the booming occurrence.

Arctic Tale does well in other audio aspects as well.  Specifically, it makes a very proficient use of the rear channels, not necessarily reproducing what is being delivered out of the front speakers, but audibly displaying an additional atmosphere that the chilly environment offers.  I would have expected a tad more of this than what occurred as it often did replicate the front speakers, but it was an entertaining experience in any case.

Special Features 

An anemic blend of 480-resolution and three extras that barely exceed a half hour equates to an unimpressive ‘extras’ menu.  Sadly, all three are presented in the uninspiring standard definition with some mildly entertaining content. 

• Making of an Arctic Tale – A behind-the-scenes look at what went in to the creation and daily grind of filming in the North Pole (24:07).
• Are We There Yet? World Adventure: Polar Bear Spotting – A Canadian show follows two young siblings, Molly and Sam, in their trip to the Canadian tundra where they seek out polar bears in the wild (7:03).
• Theatrical Trailer - (2:02)

Final Thoughts 

As previously mentioned, Arctic Tale is great for the entire family.  It may not be the best nature film or documentary out there but it certainly serves its purpose as an educational tool.  If you have little kids, I say buy this.  If not but you are curious, give it a rental first before dropping the hard-earned cash on this title.  Either way, it is worth a look and a listen.  Not only that, but you get to watch this tale from the comfort of your warm home.  It certainly beats twenty-below-zero temperatures the cameramen faced!