National Geographic - Amazing Planet

National Geographic - Amazing Planet
by James McKenna, Michael Gross

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DVD details

Director: James McKenna, Michael Gross
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 150 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-01-23
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Nat'l Geographic Vid

DVD Reviews of National Geographic - Amazing Planet

DVD Review: Great for students
Summary: 5 Stars

Other reviews of this video state that the music overpowers much of its strengths. I agree this may be true. However, being a middle school science teacher, I have found that "Amazing Planet" as an addition to my lesson plans on plate tectonics seriously engages my 6th grade students, who are mesmerized by the images and dramatic tone of the narrator. Since the film at times plays more like a suspense film than a "quiet" documentary, it is a welcome form of media, as I find myself competing for the children's attention (as we all know, many lives unfortunately revolve around loud Ipods, raucous YouTube clips, action-packed computer games, and edge-of-your-seat movies). "Amazing Planet" helps me convince the kids that geology can be just as exciting and fun to learn!

DVD Review: Too annoying...
Summary: 1 Stars

Sigh, I just bought this DVD and threw it away after few painstaking moments of watching it...I have to ask - who can watch this video?? I am adult, and I am European, and I can safely say this is not for anybody in my 'category'.

First, the narrator voice is absolutely idiotic. She is whispering everything and describes everything as 'amazing', 'awesome', or something like that.

Secondly, the soundtrack is just retarded. It is for an action movie - not for a nature documentary. Gimme a break.

Go and buy a BBC documentary instead. They have brains and some good taste.

DVD Review: Captivating documentary
Summary: 5 Stars

This documentary is informative. The many CGIs help a lot in understanding the geological concept featured.

What make this documentary stand out from its peers is its presentation. The narration, accompanying soundtrack, CGIs and great scenery are very captivating to me. The episodes progress at a high tempo pace, in sync with the exciting geological concept featured.

DVD Review: nice but short clips, poor production quality
Summary: 3 Stars

The subject matter is very interesting, and most of the video clips are great in terms of resolution. With four programs, this is a good value. The dialogue is OK, nothing great here. The weak points are the short choppy clips (If 400 video clips are good, are 1000 clips in the same time period better?), and the incessant, irrelevant rock and roll percussion music in the background that seems to drive a furious pace throughout many parts of this production. You just can't relax and think about what you are seeing, as it flies by in impressionistic fervor. I don't think the human eyes and brain are really meant for this kind of sensory challenge or bombardment! I do like the parallax effect of a moving landscape view, as long as it is smooth (not jerky or spasmodic, as it often is here!). There is also some repetition. It's good that the animations and video (apart from production) are relatively high quality. I think this "new" style of educational documentary is driven by the sensibilities of the people who think that it is an accomplishment to cram a short story into a 15 second Super Bowl commercial. If you took the original, uncut video, re-wrote and upgraded the script with contributions from some knowledgable geologists, and replaced the music soundtrack with a more thoughtful audio experience that contributed to the viewing, you could have a very nice four to six hour series here. The commercial transitions should also be reworked, and each program in the DVD production should be set forth as a full 60 minutes. The theme? I don't know. Maybe it is that "the Earth is full of changing or destructive forces, and hopefully our species can escape to another planet before something terrible happens here." Wishful thinking, but certainly consistent with our current, non-sustainable lifestyle! Rethink the message if you rewrite it!

DVD Review: Magnificent!!
Summary: 4 Stars

It is a wonderful series of documentaries!!! Magical!!
Lovely landscapes, sounds and narration!!

I'd prefer though all National Geographic documentaries to have English Subtitles for the non native speakers!

Description of National Geographic - Amazing Planet

The earth is vibrant in color and motion, startling in its variety of shapes and textures, and awe-inspiring in its grace and power. But, many of the Earth's most spectacular conjuring tricks unfold in a timeframe that is imperceptible to mere humans. For Amazing Planet, National Geographic has teamed up with NASA and the US Geological Survey to create a 4-D planet Earth - an eye-popping CGI time machine that makes it possible to see in seconds what took eons to create. Witness the bumper-car antics of continents; ice ages pulsing out of the poles and back again; the Himalayas surging upwards; the march of sand dunes swallowing and then uncovering African villages.

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