starring James Earl Jones
written & directed by Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield
Rated G.
94%

Jones narrates this edited-to-feature-length version of BBC’s Planet Earth miniseries. The assembled footage primarily documents a year in the lives of a few animal families, polar bears, elephants, and whales, as they move across the globe. The remaining gaps are filled in with larger glimpses of climates and environments all over the planet, from waterfalls to mountaintops, and short vignettes involving such diverse creatures as birds of paradise and great white sharks.

I have not actually seen any of Planet Earth, though I’ve heard great things. On the strength of this excerpt, I would certainly be interested in seeing more. More importantly though, I suspect that, had I seen the miniseries, I would have been all the more eager to experience these images on a giant movie screen. I really have no choice but to fall back on superlatives to help me describe the breathtaking beauty captured by this amazing project. This release provides a rare opportunity to go see something very different at the local multiplex.

Although hardly necessary to hold my attention, there is something of a narrative arc to earth as the film moves in mostly southerly direction from one pole to another as the months slide by from January to December. And there is certainly no need to inject artificial moments of drama along the way. This is one movie where the “characters” are in genuine danger, and may literally not survive to the end. The polar bears have only a short window to make it out onto the ice while conditions allow them to hunt for food, and then return to solid ground before the ice has melted into the ocean. The elephants trek for weeks across a dry wasteland in search of an abundant water supply. The whales brave thousands of miles of dangerous open waters to reach their feeding grounds. Meanwhile, we also get exciting segments such as the migration of vast herds of caribou as they are stalked by packs of wolves, and a species of bird whose annual journey takes them over the tops of the Himalayas.

Perhaps my favorite element, however, was the incredible use of time-lapse photography to create some of the most impressive sequences I’ve ever seen. Some of these bits came in close on blooming flowers and the branches of trees, capturing the almost sentient movements of some beautiful plant life. More amazing still, though, were the satellite images that showed changes across enormous tracts of land, such as the change from winter into spring as the white snow retreats from the onslaught of new growth across the whole of northern Europe and Asia. There was also some spectacular use of slow-motion that allows viewers to analyze the movements of a cheetah as it closes in on its prey or prompts them to renew their resolutions to stay out of the ocean as a great white leaps completely out of the water in order to capture and devour an entire seal in a single bite.

A few segments focused on the environment itself, covering areas such as rain forests and deserts. By far the most glorious of these, though, was an incredible montage of waterfall footage that begins with a jaw-dropping, top-down shot of Angel Falls, the world’s highest waterfall, that gives the audience an idea of what it would look like to go over the edge. (For the curious, a series of behind-the-scenes clips plays over the end credits to give the audience some idea of how the crews were able to capture such great material.)

Finally, although I obviously don’t know what the narration of Planet Earth is like, James Earl Jones is a great choice here. Occasionally the writing tries a bit too hard to be “cute,” but on the other hand this is meant to be a film that can entertain children as well as adults, and I would certainly say that it succeeds. Audiences may also wonder at the ideological underpinnings (if any). After all, although the movie has been released in various countries around the world beginning in 2007, it has just now made its way into American theaters on “Earth Day.”

Some conservative viewers may regard isolated references to warming climate conditions and shrinking rain forests with suspicion, but I felt that these issues were handled with subtlety and restraint. Prescriptions and calls to action are avoided entirely, and the material is allowed to speak for itself; this is powerful stuff, and we hardly need to be told that we ought to try and conserve the natural and delicate beauty on display here. Furthermore, I would argue that the emphasis placed on the exceptional and precise calibration of elements which allows our planet to support life could be seen as a gentle nudge towards contemplation of the possibilities of divine design. I certainly couldn’t keep my mind from wandering there. This earth, like the one we live on, is a beautiful gift and an open invitation to come appreciate the the wonders that exist all around us. Take advantage of the opportunity.

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starring Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, and Will Arnett
written by Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky & directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon
Rated PG for sci-fi action, some crude humor and mild language.
83%

When Susan Murphy (Witherspoon) is hit by a meteorite on her wedding day, she is suddenly and mysteriously imbued with enormous size and strength. These newfound abilities lead to her imprisonment by General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland), who has been collecting and containing monsters since the 1950s. Renamed Ginormica, Susan joins Insectosaurus, mad scientist Dr. Cockroach (Laurie), the reptilian Missing Link (Arnett) and an amorphous gelatinous mass named B.O.B. (Rogen). Before long, earth is invaded by an evil alien menace named Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson), and when conventional weapons fail, General Monger convinces the President (Stephen Colbert) to send in his team of monsters to do the job.

Monsters vs. Aliens has three really obvious things going for it. First, it has a fantastic premise, almost inspired in its silliness. The concept combines some of the most hackneyed ideas out of old B-grade monster flicks into an affectionate parody that really manages to bring the laughs. This is a movie that is simply full of ideas, and even when they don’t quite work, there is a palpable sense of fun and zany creativity behind them.

Second, the movie has a really great cast. There are definitely bad ways to stack celebrity voices into an animated feature, but here they seem to have been selected with an eye towards character first, and name-recognition second (if at all). Seth Rogen seems to have suddenly become the go-to guy for voice acting. I count five voice-overs in the past two years, and I, at least, have felt that more than a few of those were lacking something. Here, however, he seems to bring something other than his name to his character.

Laurie is magnificently funny as Dr. Cockroach, and it would not be difficult to watch the movie without connecting the voice to the actor. And casting Stephen Colbert as the President of the United States is just fun in a very obvious and entertaining way, a good joke in itself, even if doesn’t turn out to be quite as side-splitting as I had hoped. Witherspoon is the real stand-out, though. She navigates Susan flawlessly through a somewhat complex character arc in a way that both invites sympathy and interest, and makes it easy to ignore the elements of her development that don’t quite seem to make sense.

Finally, the movie showcases some glorious computer animation, providing a genuinely eye-popping 3D experience. The use of 3D is all the more appropriate as it hearkens back to the gimmicky use of the format during the 1950s (a fact which becomes fodder for one of the movie’s early gags). The new resurgence of 3D releases seems less obsessed with flashy invasions of the audience’s personal space (although there is still a bit of that), and more interested in providing a compelling environment for our eyes to hungrily explore. It is as though the screen were a window through which to see the action taking place on the other side rather than the flat projection of an image.

So, as I say, Monsters vs. Aliens has a great deal to recommend it. It’s greatest shortcoming is the failure to really live up to the wacky brilliance that seems to be within its reach. A few of the running gags fall rather flat, even before they are taken a bit too far, particularly elements involving B.O.B. and some of his schtick, and the interactions between General Monger and the President. I guess the chief problem is that so many of these ideas are funnier in theory than in practice, which is unfortunate. Still, perhaps a movie called Monsters vs. Aliens has no business being a masterpiece. It certainly kept me laughing, and I left feeling that I had gotten the good time that I paid for. I can’t think of anything more I might have reasonably expected.

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starring Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, and Alexander Ludwig
written by Matt Lopez and Mark Bomback & directed by Andy Fickman
Rated PG for sequences of action and violence, frightening and dangerous situations, and some thematic elements.
64%

Jack Bruno (Johnson) is a Vegas cab driver with a shady past that he is trying to leave behind him. His quest for normalcy is complicated considerably by the unexpected appearance of two teenagers with a fat roll of cash who need a ride out into the desert. The two are siblings, Seth (Ludwig) and Sara (Robb), with some very unusual abilities. In fact, as Jack will soon discover, they are aliens on the run from both the United States government and an intergalactic assassin, and if he doesn’t help them recover their ship from the depths of a top secret facility at Witch Mountain, the fate of the human race will be very much in question.

This movie’s biggest asset is undoubtedly Dwayne Johnson, who has come a long way (at least in my estimation) from his days as “The Rock” playing roles like the title character of Mummy prequel The Scorpion King. Props to whoever first had the idea of handing him comedic roles. The man is a master of dry self-deprecation. His charisma keeps Race to Witch Mountain afloat when it feels like it should be sinking. Ludwig and Robb are also somewhat endearing as the alien children, but they feel a bit crippled at first by wooden “not-of-this-world” dialogue (which means that they are teenagers who speak English well).

Unfortunately, despite a strong effort from the cast, Race to Witch Mountain seems to be banking on a young, undiscriminating audience to compensate for lazy, shoddy production values. Director Andy Fickman must have been picked for the ability to bring movies in under budget, because his choices seem built around cutting corners. For an action-driven science fiction film released by a major studio, this has some of the shoddiest effects I have witnessed in recent memory, poorly disguised by shaky camerawork, lots of close-ups, and choppy editing.

The goal here was clearly to get the audience in, race (ha!) through the story, and move them out for the next group. This movie can’t be troubled to slow down for anything, setting up the story and characters in record time and then moving full-speed ahead for the duration. Even the rare moments of character-developing dialogue have tense music underscoring them or must be prematurely interrupted by yet-another chase sequence. This is not entirely a bad thing. After all, the movie is as long as it needs to be and it never drags. Still, I was hyper-aware of the economy of its storytelling throughout.

Johnson, the kids, and their supporting cast (which includes Carla Gugino, Ciaran Hinds, and Garry Marshall) go a long way towards deflecting these shortcomings, and the script is sporadically clever. Race to Witch Mountain may be cheap, forgettable entertainment, but it is undeniably entertaining. I suppose that’s all I would have asked of it, and as long as no one expects something more this will be a satisfying, painless experience.

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