The youngsters and sensitive grownups will appreciate of the lack of graphic animal carnage depicted in "Earth". This was a conscious decision by the films’ directors, Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield. Incidentally, they are same creative team behind the Emmy Award®-winning “Planet Earth”. On the other hand, the wholesome Disney did influence a change in the film’s ending for its U.S. release.
The Power of Solar Energy
The tilt of the earth to the sun, not only effects geographical climates, but also causes yearly seasons and variations of daylight and darkness. Ultimately, this has a direct impact on the food and water available on our planet. Especially, for wild animals attempting to survive in what wilderness remains from global over development and depletion of natural resources.
The film illustrates the sun’s powerful influence by monitoring the journeys of these wild creatures through the seasons. Beginning in January on Arctic islands, we follow a family of polar bears with two adorable cubs. The tour ends with humpback whales, mother and child, returning to the tropical waters of the Antarctic.
Rare Action And Impossible Locations
“Earth” may lack high drama, but it is the dramatic cinematography, super-sized on the big screen that makes the film riveting to behold. Especially impressive are the aerial, time-lapse, and slow motion photography techniques employed by the filmmakers. Witness the decelerated capture of a Great White shark’s magnificent jump and flip as it catches a seal!
The production team was equipped with new photographic technology, -a stabilized aerial camera. This enabled the photographers to track animals from elevated heights without disturbing them. With the special camera installed under a helicopter, it was finally possible to film traveling herds uninterrupted by the noisy flying craft. The filmmakers also captured, for the first time, aerial shots of the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. The shot of migrating cranes, in flight over the Himalayas, is just as breathtaking.
Stay for the end credits to view the “behind the scenes” footing showing the doc’s many photographers. Including, their mishaps involving various modes of transportation used to carry them and their camera equipment.
Members Of The Pride
Narrated by the James Earl Jones. Directed by Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, (Planet Earth). Cinematography by Richard Brooks Burton, Mike Holding and Andrew Shillabeer. Film Editing by Martin Elsbury and Vartan Nazarian. Original music by the Oscar-nominated composer, George Fenton, (Dangerous Liaisons, Gandhi).
Released by Walt Disney Studios. Earth debuts the Disneynature’s film label, and its series of high impact wildlife and environmental films produced specifically for movie theaters.
(Running Time: 96 min; Rated: G)
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