New nature doco a case of deja vu Earth: One Amazing Day (G)
95mins ★★★
In this sequel to the 2007 nature documentary Earth
the focus is on a 24-hour period in the life of our ‘‘small blue planet with a rocky moon travelling around a star’’. From Galapagos iguana to African zebras, itchy North American grizzly bears to fussy Chinese Pandas various dramas play out as the one turn of the ‘‘magical dance’’ between the Earth and the Sun takes place.
As expected from the Beeb’s wildlife team, the photography is top-notch with clever use of framing and film speeds capturing some amazing imagery. However, it doesn’t feel like anything that hasn’t been documented on any number of the wildlife programmes that litter weekend TV screens.
Then there’s Robert Redford’s earnest narration. To be fair, he is saddled with some particularly awful monologues, which include choice lines like, ‘‘darkness is not just a time for nightmares, but also dreams and wonders’’ and ‘‘there is something that doesn’t take a break, even in the heat of day – the struggle for power’’.
Ah yes, and then there’s the ‘‘peril factor’’. Although Earth: One Amazing Day is clearly aimed at family viewing, there are enough tension-filled moments of life and death to make you think twice about taking any littlies of nervous disposition or animal-loving persuasion. There’s a heart-stopping iguana run for survival, a full-on, extended Giraffe smackdown and the usual zebra-lion interactions. In fact, zebra’s really don’t fare well throughout.
Naturally, there are also some heartwarming and melting moments, but ultimately, there’s not enough new natural history stories being told here to make this truly a must-see.
– James Croot