Life (2009)

Charming and brutal

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I was expecting this film to have a creationist slant, but it does not. It is a bit like David Attenborough for children. It has first class nature photography, but it is aimed at children with a dumbed-down narration by Oprah Winfrey and somewhat Disneyfied music. It sometimes has an odd prudishness about fish reproduction.The creatures chosen are each bizarre and entertaining but ones I have seen before.Some of the principles of evolution are presented, but in a subtle way. The focus is on strange animal behaviour, not how it could have evolved. I learned something new, that the schooling behaviour of anchovies is indeed very effective against predators.It is not totally prettified. It shows flamingo chicks that died after they fell out of the nest.I think the insect segment was most interesting with the most material I had not seen before. The jousting tournament with the surprise ending really tickled me.There are bits of Disneyesque anthropomorphising, for example talking of insects "fighting for their dignity".This is first rate family entertainment. I am ready to see it again already.

After the tremendous success of the extraordinary and revolutionary nature documentary series Planet Earth, a similar programme was bound to follow, and indeed it did. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, this series uses the same special camera normally in the film industry to slow down the quickest action and get close to it. The programme sees how the animals and creatures of all parts of the world manage to survive, looking at what they eat, giving birth, fighting, looking after each other and much more. Throughout the programme we see reptiles and amphibians, mammals, fish, birds, insects, hunters and hunted, creatures of the deep, plants and primates. It was interesting to see the familiar animals and creatures you have seen many times in other programmes, but also the ones you have probably never seen. Filled with colourful worlds, magnificent living things and hearing the wonderful narration by Attenborough makes this just as brilliant as its predecessor, a must see. It won the Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming "cinematography team", and it was nominated for Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming, Outstanding Sound Editing for Nonfiction Programming (Single or Multi-Camera), Outstanding Sound Mixing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming. Very good!

I certainly take no issue with the overwhelming positive reviews that preceded mine: the series provided amazingly photographed and dramatically presented insight into the diversity of life on the planet. We watched the entire series, and wish we had kept track of the number of times that we said "Oh. My. God." or "That is so bizarre..." Very much like "Planet Earth", "Life" demands a renewed sense of wonder of all that surrounds us.Having said that, and to take nothing away from the indisputable positive attributes, I thought that the series fell something just short of 'absolutley perfect'.At the highest level, information, and video images (albeit amazing ones) are presented quickly and are short. I'd liken the effect to flipping through a NGM, as opposed to reading the articles. The effect is strong, but I was left thirsting for a little more hard information. I realize that one could probably do a 10 part series on any one of the many lifeforms that are touched on in any single episode. But I still felt somehow shorted...like I was being shown shots to maximize the 'wow!' factor and emotional response, rather than present information.which leads to the more specific criticism: over and over again, my wife wondered...where the heck is that, and what is the scale of that thing??? With respect to the former, general place names are given, but many aren't that familiar to me...some sort of mapping segue would have been nice. I fully acknowledge that such would need a really artistic touch in order to avoid a 'cheapening' effect, but would satisfy our curiosity. Perhaps even part of the 'special features' on a DVD set? With respect to the latter, many times, we were shown amazing pictures of bizarre creatures, but often with no sense of scale. Size or mass range was sometimes mentioned, often times it wasn't. Often times, especially with the amazing photography, one couldn't really tell of the subject was 1 inch, 1 foot or 1 yard in size.Notwithstanding these comments, I'm looking forward to buying the set when they come out, and look are hoping that they contain the sorts of 'making of' features that were included on the "Planet Earth" set.

Words cannot describe how amazing this documentary is. Watching the series, you will continuously wonder how the camera crew was able to film the events and in such high definition.When I first watched the 'Planet Earth' series, I thought the production qualities on a documentary of this genre could not be surpassed until I watched 'Life'. Narrated by David Attenborough, 'Life' feels like an improved version of 'Planet Earth' with a focus specifically on how life works. The series shows how complex, beautiful, and harsh life is with absolute clarity.Most of us live in cities away from wildlife making us forget about the world beyond humans. 'Life' takes us on a journey into nature we never get to see in our normal lives, and for the most part, never knew existed.