"NATURE’S MOST AMAZING EVENTS"
Blu-ray Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: ***** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars) Not Rated Available on Blu-ray on June 16 Official BBC America Site Studio: BBC Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Six episodes of the BBC’s acclaimed “Earth” documentary series are presented on two Blu-ray discs. The six episodes follow massive events in nature: The Great Melt, The Great Salmon Run, The Great Migration, The Great Tide, The Great Flood and The Great Feast. Watch predator and prey clash in the harsh world that nature has to offer. Some of the most amazing animals on the planet are followed, including grizzly bears, polar bears, humpback whales, dolphins, elephants and lions.
WHAT I LIKED
Even if you have watched the “Planet Earth” series, it is worth watching this Blu-ray for the high-definition experience. After having grown up on National Geographic documentaries and Disney nature films, along with a wash of films like “March of the Penguins” and “Arctic Tale,” I can say that this Blu-ray set includes some of the best nature documentary footage I have ever seen.
Under the title of “Nature’s Most Amazing Events,” this release focuses on some monumental moments. The large scale is fantastic in this film, providing an unapologetic look at the relationship between predator and prey, as well as how their cycles impact the world around them.
Rather than spotlighting the animals themselves (although they do get plenty of attention), this Blu-ray set focuses on the grand events.
The best episodes include “The Great Salmon Run,” which follows the salmon’s journey upstream to spawn. It features brilliant shots of grizzly bears hunting the fish, along with other challenges they face along the way. Even better is “The Great Tide,” which spotlights the sardine migration. Sure, “sardine migration” doesn’t sound all that exciting, but when millions of these fish swim up the coast, they attract the most impressive gathering of predators on the planet, including dolphins, sea lions, sea birds, sharks and whales.
“Nature’s Most Amazing Events” is a brilliant nature video set. It was released earlier this month on DVD, but if you have a Blu-ray player, it’s worth getting again for the brilliant high definition experience it offers.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
As a best-of compilation of a brilliant nature series, there’s very little to dislike about this Blu-ray set. Even the high chance of preaching that normally comes with a title like this, while it is not non-existent, is kept very much under control.
DVD FEATURES
There are not too many special features on this disc, although each episode does contain a tag called “Nature’s Most Amazing Events Diaries.” These ten-minute endings to each episode show how the documentary crew put themselves in harm’s way to capture some of these brilliant shots.
For people new to the Blu-ray experience, the first disc of this set includes a comprehensive and idiot-proof tutorial on how to set up your Blu-ray player and television settings for the maximum effect. In fact, this tutorial is relatively rare on Blu-ray releases and is a good thing to have to recalibrate your system in the future for all your other titles.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Nature documentary junkies.
