Review: ‘Earth’

Earth… the final frontier… oops, wrong movie!   No, this is the new film from Disney’s nature division called ‘Earth’. I was very apprehensive about this film after seeing the trailer a few months back. It seemed like Disney was just reusing footage from the BBC mini-series ‘Planet Earth’ to make a quick buck at the box office.   After seeing the film, my opinion was slightly changed.

Yes, 70% of the footage in ‘Earth’ is taken right out of the ‘Planet Earth’ mini series, but they did change the narration of the film. Disney swapped out Sigourney Weaver for the great James Earl Jones. They also altered the dialog and information so that it would be entertaining for kids 7-17. Jones add some humor during some of the scenes with the monkeys and woodland ducks.

‘Earth’ concentrates on following three species of animals, Polar Bears, Elephants and  Humpback Whales through a year on the planet. Earth shows the struggles they go through to find food, water and to evade predators to survive the year. This is Disney so the only animal in the film seen killing another one is the Great White Shark (seen above) leaping from the ocean with a seal in his mouth.

‘Earth’ is educational and entertaining for older kids. But in this critic’s opinion ‘Earth’ is a “cliff notes” version of the BBC mini-series ‘Planet Earth’. If you have seen the mini-series, you have seen everything in this film. If you haven’t seen ‘Planet Earth’ it airs regularly on the Discovery Channel and is available on DVD.   But if you have grade school kids that you would have to chain to a chair to watch a 6 hour series, ‘Earth’ is just for you and your kids.   ***Earth Day Alert*** If you see this film  between April 22nd (Opening Day) and April 29th,   Disney will plant a tree for every ticket sold! I can beathe the new oxygen as I am writing this.

Rated G

Running Time: 90 minutes

[Overall: 2.75 stars out of 5]