Earth

Adapted from the BBC series Planet Earth, which aired on the Discovery Channel and sold millions of copies on DVD and Blu-ray, this nature documentary boasts eye-popping cinematography, while also employing a full repertoire of editing tricks to create the illusion of a continuous narrative from countless hours of wild animal footage. Co-directed by Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, Earth—mellifluously narrated by James Earl Jones—trains its focus on the trials and travels of three animal families. In the Arctic, a mother polar bear and her cubs search for food in the barren, snowy landscape. In Africa, a family of elephants tries to escape from drought by heading for the lush Okavango Delta. Under the sea, a humpback whale and her calf begin a 4,000-mile migration, the longest journey undertaken by any marine mammal. Other critters make an appearance as well, some solely for comic relief, but Earth isn't an old-fashioned Disney animal documentary: viewers are reminded of how species survive by preying on others further down the food chain (despite the G rating, the film includes such potentially upsetting sequences as a pride of lions mounting a nighttime attack on an elephant, although the directors cut away before the actual coup de grâce is delivered). Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include an “Earth Diaries” making-of featurette (43 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a “Filmmaker Annotations” picture-in-picture track, as well as a bonus DVD copy of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a winning documentary.] (E. Hulse)