The Life of Mammals
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Movie Reviews of The Life of Mammals
Movie Review: Amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
Buy this, show your kids, show your friends, show your parents. A definite must own.Movie Review: Magnificent!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Another magnificent production from the BBC! In a way, even better and more focused, than "Planet Earth". This production deserves more than 5 stars. Isn't nature a wonderful thing? This should be a must see for everyone on the planet. Movie Review: EXCELLENT RESOURCE
Summary: 5 Stars
The Life of Mammals is not just another beautiful nature DVD, it is that for sure, but also an excellent resource to teach our children about our natural world. My grandchildren are homeschooled and I purchased this set for their curriculum. Not only are they thoroughly entertained, but they have learned a great deal as well.Movie Review: Great Series with few flaws
Summary: 4 Stars
The information and visuals presented in Attenborough's series are nothing short of amazing. Very interesting tidbits and interesting camera setups such as one inside a beaver's dam and one inside a kangaroo's pouch. My only problem with this series was that at times Attenborough interferes too much with the mammals making the documentary lose it's natural feel. For example Attenborough overfeeds an animal to make it's cheeks stuff for the camera and at another time he touches a baby seal in its den. These portions distract from the otherwise beautiful and engaging look at mammals.Movie Review: Masterpiece - Beautifully Filmed and Cleverly Written
Summary: 5 Stars
David Attenborough's "The Life of Mammals" contains 500 minutes of top-notch footage on 4 discs. This series is beautifully filmed and as entertaining as any documentary in the past, although Attenborough's 1979 series "Life on Earth" was a phenomenon at the time.
"The Life of Mammals" ten episodes cover the full range of the mammal class; beginning with montremes and marsupials in the first episode and then moving on to the placentals from episode 2. Each 48 minute episode depicts (roughly) ten different species.
Episode 1: A Winning Design - monotremes and marsupials
Episode 2: Insect Hunters - moles, bats, anteaters
Episode 3: Plant Predators - various herbivores, especially antelopes
Episode 4: Chisellers - rodents and squirrels
Episode 5: Meat Eaters - big cats and dogs, pack and solitary hunters
Episode 6: Opportunists - omnivores like bears and racoons
Episode 7: Return to Water - whales, seals and dolphins
Episode 8: Life in the Trees - monkeys
Episode 9: Social Climbers - monkeys and babboons
Episode 10: Food for Thought - apes and humans
What impresses me is the style of film-making. In each episode, Attenborough doesn't just pick a number of mammals and tell you about them; he has a certain sequence based on a theme which builds from mammal to mammal. That is, he will raise a question based on one situation and then answer it with the next mammal, thus tying a thread together for that episode. An example from Episode 3 (Plant Predators) is the focus on the food sources on the plains of Africa. Here, Attenborough discusses the adaptations of the grasses which enable them to survive, but then talks about the dangers for these plants; which are not animals, but the acacia tree. He now makes us think the thorn-ridden acacia tree will take over the world - Attenborough has the viewer in the palm of his hand. He goes on to describe the adaptations a small antelope has in order to eat the bottom leaves, then the adaptations of a bigger antelope that eats the middles branches, then the girafe that eats the top branches, then the elephant who knocks the whole tree down. It's this clever ordering or sequencing that has the viewer spell-bound. He could've just shown the animal's source of food; but instead there is a level of intrigue not found in other documentaries.
I'm a high school science teacher and a Christian. Nature documentaries generally over-use the theory of evolution and I'm glad to note that this is not a focus in "The Life of Mammals" as much of Attenborough's discussion is refreshingly 'design' based. He is not proposing a Creationist viewpoint, and conversely, is not overwhelming the viewer with evolutionary ideas. Instead, Attenborough's focus is on the adaptations mammals have in order to survive in their environments.
Despite nothing original in the carnivores episode (its all been done before by others), this is a masterpiece. It is beautifully filmed and cleverly written by the Shakespeare of the genre. It holds both the young and old captive but also those not overly excited with nature documentaries. And despite what another reviewer wrote there are observations that have never been seen before let alone captured on film.