Earth (2009)

Image credit: BBC Worldwide Ltd.

Polar bear leaps to safety

With its cozy references to animal ''moms'' and ''dads'' and its delicate avoidance of disturbing imagery in the depiction of life and death in the wild, this super-duper deluxe nature documentary (the first title from the new Disneynature label of environmentally conscious crowd-pleasers) clearly aims to recruit young viewers as conservationists. The pitch works for adults, too. Earth, a showpiece from the BBC team that made Planet Earth, is spectacularly photographed, gracefully edited, and effectively matter-of-fact in demonstrating the effects of of climate change. James Earl Jones narrates with the authority of Adam naming the animals. A–

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