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“Planet Earth” became a huge seller on both Blu-ray
and DVD. This unique view of our world lets us see animals
that we might never encounter on our own (because some of
them are close to extinction). This feature film drawn from
a mix of previously unseen footage along with some footage
that was cut from the film takes viewers further into our
delicate world made of porcelain. “Earth” has one advantage
over the BBC mini-series “Planet Earth”— it clocks in at
90 minutes covering many of the same points and highlights
of the BBC mini-series. For those suffering from short attention
spans or who just can’t handle quite that much nature (I’m
thinking of kids here folks), “Earth” is a perfect “Cliff’s
Notes” version of the TV series. ***
What’s surprising is that the movie works so well given
how radically it was recut to accommodate theatrical showings
of much of the same footage. With James Earl Jones sonorous
voice acting as narrator (“hey kids it’s Darth Vader…listen
closely or he’ll use the force!”), “Earth” works even when
some of the sequences don’t because Jones’ narration will
pull you into the film readily and rapidly. ---
Image & Sound:
“Earth” looks terrific with a beautiful, robust looking
transfer that accurately captures the rich colors from the
theatrical showing of the film. Clarity and detail are remarkably
sharp with very nice textures evident as well. There are
some minor digital compression artifacts that show up from
time-to-time such as vertical banding but these are rare
occurring only in a couple of sequences. ***
Audio sounds terrific with a strong, detailed DTS HD
5.1 surround mix that puts you in the middle of the action
creating perfect ambience for the sequences in the filml.
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