Wings of Life

This latest entry in the Disneynature documentary series focuses on the relationship between flowers and winged creatures—birds, bats, bees, and butterflies—exploring how the animals see the plants as their source of nutrition, while the blossoms pollinate via the eat-and-fly diners. Director Louie Schwartzberg brings his camera into extraordinarily close range to capture this intricate interaction, with many sequences employing a variety of high-tech enhancements (such as slow-motion cinematography) to enhance the dramatic impact of the subject, including a stunning scene capturing nectar-consuming bats feeding in flight while their translucent wings glow in the desert twilight. Meryl Streep provides somewhat fey narration from the perspective of the flora—and, yes, it's a bit peculiar to hear the triple-Oscar-winner calmly state, “I am a flower”—but this strange set-up quickly gels and the narration turns out to be a lot less intrusive than some of the clunky/jokey running commentary found in earlier Disneynature releases. Informative, engaging, and lovely to watch, this is recommended. Aud: J, H, P. (P. Hall)