A film that gives a literally cold, hard look at arctic life from the “team that brought you ‘March of the Penguins’”, ‘Arctic Tale’ is set up as more of a family film with pooting jokes intact and therefore suffers a bit when compared to its more truthful-minded predecessor, but there’s no denying some powerful images here.
From married filmmakers Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson who spent six frosty years in the arctic accumulating footage of various animals, they wittled down the footage to focus on an infant polar bear, Nanu, and a baby walrus, Seela. Apparently, the footage was comprised over the course of several years and several different kiddie animals and edited together in a way to pull the emotional focus on to our two frankensteined young protagonists.
Positioned more for toddlers and kids than ‘March of the Penguins’ was, narration by Queen Latifah is a tad too loose for my tastes as she anthropomorphizes the creatures with irritating abandon - choice phrases like “best be goin’ “ make me pine for the smooth, paternal sounds of Morgan Freeman. The soundtrack is also fairly pedantic with ‘Celebrate’ and ‘We Are Family’ popping up in painfully expected places and if all else fails, we get a montage of walrus flatulence for easy laughs.
That being said, one could do worse than a National Geographic doc, no matter how sophomoric, to prove a nice break from ‘Spongebob’ for the kiddies. Take away the annoying narration and soundtrack and you’re left with some lush lensing of the gorgeous arctic landscapes and some impressive footage of our heroes fighting for their lives in this rough, desolate world. A few life lessons sneak in, including the sad, inevitable acceptance of death, and at the end of the day, if polar bears and walruses are what you want, polar bears and walruses are what you get.
Also of note, however, is the none-too-subtle global warming agenda that permeates throughout the film not unlike the heavy-handedness of last year’s ‘Happy Feet’. Not that I don’t agree with the messages snuck into these films, but sometimes people pay for a specific product and when the focus gets diverted from that product and onto preaching, it can grow tiresome.
Co-scripted by Kristine Gore, Al Gore’s daughter, a dubious amount of screen-time is devoted to the effect of global warming on these animals and one might be forgiven for thinking they were watching ‘An Inconvenient Truth 2: Polar Bears and Walruses are also inconvenienced!’ - by the time the end credits roll and little moppets are shuffled out to remind mommy and daddy to turn off the closet light lest they kill baby polar bears, you might be welcoming the return of politics-free ‘Spongebob’.
Presented in a 1080p AVC MPG4 transfer, the look is generally pleasing despite the use of various film stocks throughout the years of filming. Although the transfer doesn’t quite match the breathtaking visuals of ‘Planet Earth’ on HD, the wind-swept blue-tinged visuals look mighty fine. A competent Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is provided and more than does the job.
A few special features consist of a 23-minute making of that proves quite interesting. How much work and risking of life to grab these visuals give the film a newfound respect. A dang shame the powers that be in post-production fashioned a more juvenile film than it needed to be. A short six-minute featurette ‘Polar Bear Spotting’ says that you too can track polar bears. Thanks, but I’ll pass. An HD trailer rounds out the special features.
While it doesn’t approach the critical and commercial success of ‘March of the Penguins’, the film has enough intriguing visuals and educating anecdotes to prove a nice diversion for kids who are animal-inclinated. Parents might be warned of the fart jokes, narration and agenda-heavy narrative.
Arctic Tale [HD DVD] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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