As befitting a movie co-written by Al Gore's daughter Kristin, the documentary Arctic Tale—shot under difficult conditions over a six-year period—illustrates the effects of global warming on various species inhabiting the North Pole. Of course, the warning about animals being endangered by habitat alterations brought about by the shrinking ice cover is certainly timely, but Arctic Tale is like a throwback to the Disney live-action nature features of the 1950s, marked by an extreme tendency toward anthropomorphism. The footage is edited to follow two young animals—a baby polar bear named Nanu and a baby walrus called Seela—as they're being taught by their elders. After losing her brother, Nanu and her mother are left alone in the wild. Seela, on the other hand, is part of a fairly large pod that includes her mother and a protective older walrus called Auntie. While the parts of the film focusing on the older animals' tips to the newborns about stalking and catching their prey are very interesting, the effort to humanize the main “characters” goes too far, and the narration, delivered by Queen Latifah, is studded with precious turns of phrase that are likely to make you wince. Still, even though the footage has been fashioned into an overly cute critter feature, it's often remarkable to watch, making this a strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD extras include a 24-minute “making-of” featurette, a seven-minute “Are We There Yet? World Adventure: Polar Bear Spotting” featurette, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an uneven family doc.] (F. Swietek)[Blu-ray Review—Apr. 14, 2009—Paramount, 86 min., G, $29.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2007's Arctic Tale features a handsome transfer and a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are identical to the previous standard DVD release, including a 24-minute “making-of” featurette, a seven-minute “Are We There Yet? World Adventure: Polar Bear Spotting” featurette, and trailers. Bottom line: this family-oriented documentary looks wonderful on Blu-ray.]
Arctic Tale
Paramount, 86 min., G, DVD: $29.99, Dec. 4 Volume 23, Issue 1
Arctic Tale
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