Netflix's 'Our Planet' makes you feel small, but powerful: Review
Netflix's 'Our Planet' makes you feel small, but powerful: Review
To the extent one can believe nature documentaries have spoilers, the following review is spoiler-free.
From flocks of birds to colonies of ants, big group shots are a staple in most nature documentaries.
Meticulously filmed and explained, these scenes often depict some massive group of animals -- occasionally in tandem with another massive group of animals -- working to accomplish a monstrous task that's somehow critical to their survival. Think a pack of wolves cooperatively hunting down prey or a family of beavers collecting materials to build a dam.
Netflix's Our Planet, a new series narrated by genre icon David Attenborough, is no exception to this rule. Throughout its eight episodes as it explores eight ecosystems, Our Planet investigates the many ways various species work together to overcome obstacles and survive in our mistreated and increasingly inhospitable world.
SEE ALSO: Discovery Channel and BBC Studios announce the streaming service of your nature doc dreamsSimilar to its predecessors, Blue Planet, Planet Earth, and Life, Our Planet's most valuable entertainment resource lies within these breathtaking sequences. The series opens with a stunning scene showing a multi-front assault on a group of anchovies along the Peruvian coast, sea birds attacking from the sky as dolphins snap up morsels from below. It's a gripping, delightful hook for the series' start.
Wild Dog pup waiting at the den expectantly for the pack to return . Save Conservancy, Zimbabwe Credit: courtesy of netflix As the episodes pass, we witness more and more of these large-scale wonders. There's more impressive hunting as well as a number of mass migrations, flirtatious mating rituals, and narrow escapes -- each dramatically narrated sequence more awe-inspiring than the last with seemingly more and more creatures within frame.
Fans of the genre will once again experience that warm feeling that comes with watching something in amazement, a kind of hug from the inside that makes you feel blissfully and fantastically insignificant in the face of the Earth's many inhabitants.
This fuzzy feeling of child-like discovery isn't particularly new, and Our Planetdoesn't exactly revolutionize its delivery. (Metaphorically speaking, we've seen this baby animal footage before.) Instead, what makes Our Planet praise-worthy is the effectiveness of its central message, utilizing that amazement and delight as a transport system for climate change education.
Gentoo penguins may be the fastest penguins underwater, but when they come ashore to breed in Spring, they can only travel as fast as their little feet will carry them. Unperturbed by Antarctica's snow and ice, they journey up and down the slopes, taking it in turns to incubate their eggs. Antarctica Peninsula
SCREEN GRAB Credit: courtesy of netflix For each moment of sheer wonder, viewers are faced with at least one hard fact about our dying planet. Consistently, Attenborough informs us of the harsh consequences that come with our species' progressively out-of-control behavior.
For example, wildlife populations have declined by 60% in the past 50 years and habitat loss continues at an alarmingly high rate. He states these facts directly, and without preamble. This is happening, and it threatens every being on this planet.
But, Our Planetis not without hope. While the series doesn't directly inform its audience of how to fix this catastrophic problem, it does reassure us that the planet can recover, if we are willing to work together.
The presentation of this all-important task -- our duty to do everything we can to protect our home for both ourselves and the animals with whom we share it -- rapidly transforms those striking group shots of pack hunting, migration, and fights for survival from entertaining fascination to inspirational example setting.
This is our planet. It is ours to save or sacrifice. The choice is ours, but we'll have to make it together. Our Planet: Season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix.
To learn more about how you can help preserve the Earth and protect its inhabitants, check out Mashable's science coverage on conservation and climate change.
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