Penguins
Posted by Nathaniel.
Kirsten and went to see March of the Penguins this afternoon so we could get out the heat down here.
It was a decent way to spend an hour and a half, but I’m not really satisfied. Maybe it’s the fact that I consider myself to be a scientist, but I like my documentaries to have some detail. When you’re talking about penguin mortality, I’d like to know numbers not just “lots”.
At least it had a voiceover though. The last bird documentary that I saw “Winged Migration” I think didn’t even have narration.
August 15th, 2005 at 12:57 pm Using
Admittedly, “March” was a fairly light on the science, but I thought it did a superb job of what I always look for in nature docs: putting me up close and personal with critters as they go about their usual routine in their natural habitat.
Honestly, for the sake of movie theater mass-appeal, I’m okay with leaving the grittier science to dedicated cable and satellite channel venues in favor of scientifically sound, albeit lightweight, nature docs in the theaters. I’d much rather the kiddies see the cycle of life in all its glory, happy: sad, brutal, touching, raw, funny, etc. Beats the hell out of some sanitized Disney-fied [1] version of it.
Anyways, I liked “March” for what it was, and I loved the choice of Morgan Freeman as narrator. HIs pleasant baritone has just enough room for whimsy, yet also lends itself to somber tones when needed. James Earl Jones or Keith David (two other popular choices for narrating documnetaries) would have been too authoritative with their resonant bass voices for this particular subject.
[1] Sidebar: what the hell happened to Disney anyways? These were once the same guys who killed Bambi’s mother; now they’ve gone all soft? It dont’ add up, man.
August 15th, 2005 at 10:40 pm Using
I’m really not saying that Penguins was bad… just that for me I would have liked more science detail. For instance, when the one pair’s egg froze, was the video real time or time lapse? And I’d really like to know what fraction of chicks survive each stage of parents leaving and coming back.
I think what I am saying is that the beauty of the cinematography doesn’t make up for the fact that, in my mind, “documentary”=”Nova”.