As we learn again in "Earth," the bears hunt for seals and other critters on the ice pack, and when the ice melts and breaks up, they swim more and hunt less. Many starve.
"Earth" treats us to footage of a ravenous papa bear pawing listlessly at a head of a walrus, then curling up to die. This makes "Earth" the first nature documentary to have you rooting openly for the killing and eating of a baby walrus.
The story of the polar bears complement stories of whale and elephant migration, all nicely photographed. There is some great footage of migrating cranes struggling to fly over the Himalayans, which "Earth" uses as a point of departure for a quick ecosystem - the snow melts, swollen rivers slake the land and return the water to the sea, and evaporation renews circle of life.
It's very instructive and hey, where else can you see footage like this? On Animal Planet, the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel, etc., just about every night.
"Earth," in fact, is a condensed version of a series broadcast on the BBC. The challenge facing "Earth" and all modern nature documentary is that so much spectacular, exotic footage already has been captured and broadcast in high-def, gobbled up and assimilated by kids in front of big screens.
They're hip to the movie's message of doom, intoned here by James Earl Jones. He replaces BBC narrator Patrick Stewart. Why? Because when Darth Vadar tells you the ice is melting, you pay attention. *
Produced by Sophokles Tas*ol*s, Al*x T*dmarsh, directed by Alastair Fothergill, Mark Linfield, written by Alastair Foghergill, Mark Linfield, Leslie Megahey, distributed by Disney Films.
