World's creatures take center stage in 'Earth'

One movie in town has a cast, literally, of thousands - and none of them is created by computer.

What's more, this cast is made up entirely of nudes. (And, no, it is not "The Informers," although that movie comes close.)

It's the call of the wild - "Earth."

Crystal clear photography from around the world, coupled with amazing nature close-ups make "Earth" an experience that should not be missed on the theatrical screen. There are views of the world here that are rarely seen by human beings.

We see the migration of thousands of caribou, with added suspense when a coyote separates a calf from its protective herd. The resulting chase is more thrilling than anything in "Fast & Furious." I was pulling for the caribou, but... it's tough out there.

There are deserts. There are rivers. There are seas. All bases are touched in what amounts to a kind of hit parade of nature films. This scattershot is both profitable and detrimental because "Earth" has no real central drama, as did, for example, "March of the Penguins." ("Penguins" remains the best, most dramatic nature film.)

Those with knowledge of movie history will be reminded of the awesome Disney True-Life Adventures that won buckets of Oscars back in the 1950s and proved that there was an audience for nature films. The maker of this film is called Disneynature, but most of this film was made by the BBC for television's award-winning "Planet Earth," and indeed, much of the footage has been seen on TV.

No matter. It is far better to see it on the big screen with the added tension of an audience that gasps and laughs along with you.

The original narrator, back when the film debuted at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2007, was Patrick Stewart. The narration for this version is done by James Earl Jones, who sounds like the voice of God pronouncing the happenings on his little Earth.

Some callers have complained that their children were frightened by the moments when the father bear feverishly attacks a sea creature. I was frightened, too, and repulsed. But the lessons of nature are there.

In actuality, the cameras pan away just before a final kill. Death may be imminent, but we never quite get there.

The closest thing to a sustained drama, among the three "family" dramas etched, is that of the polar bears. Starved, a mother guides her two cubs to look for food in the barren snows. The father goes farther out to sea to hunt for seals because the melting ice has destroyed his usual hunting ground. We pull for them as we never pulled for Luke Skywalker or Robin Hood.

In the Kalahari Desert, elephants fight off lions who hover on the edge of the herd. The elephants have the upper hand (or tusk) by daylight, but when it gets dark, the cats rule. We learn to fear the dark more than we ever did watching "The Blair Witch Project."

We see a mother humpback whale support her baby so that it can learn to breathe air. We go along on the 4,000-mile migration of the whales that is the longest made by any marine mammal.

Baboons are always good for comic relief (testing their way into strange water).

Taking to the air, there is the drama of how the Demoiselle cranes have to cross above the highest mountains in the world, the Himalayas, to get to a warm climate. On the cute side, there is the first attempted flight of the Mandarin duck chicks, leaping from their nests (and not landing too gracefully).

Refreshingly, we get no sermons about global warming. Documentaries are best when they show us, not tell us.

George Fenton's music score is in the bombastic tradition of John Williams, which is all to the good.

This is a grand show.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com.