THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2010
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NewDVDs
A look at ‘Life,’ warts and awe
by Jen Chaney
Most of us will never get the opportunity to
visit Kenya and watch a hungry pack of cheetahs stalk an unsuspecting ostrich. Odds are equally slim that we’ll ever plunge through eight feet of Antarctic ice and into the depths of the Earth’s southernmost seas to observe starfish creeping ever so slowly along the dark and chilly ocean floor. Thankfully, we have “Life” — a stunning na- ture documentary from the BBC and Discovery Channel released this week on DVD ($59.99) and Blu-ray ($69.99). With its immersive cam- erawork, jaw-dropping depictions of wildlife and high-definition imagery, “Life,” like “Planet Earth” before it, really is the next best thing to being right beside a humpback whale, a preen- ing pink flamingo or a baby meerkat. “Life” is best appreciated in the Blu-ray for-
mat, where the eye-popping journey across sev- en continents and into the lives of 200 species, from milkweed plants to chimpanzees, is shown off to gorgeously dramatic effect. In addition to all 11 parts of the series, the four-disc set in- cludes deleted scenes and the BBC’s 10 making- of featurettes that accompany the core 43- minute episodes that first aired in the United Kingdom last year. The material in the featurettes somewhat overlaps the 11th installment in the American version of the series, “The Making of ‘Life,’ ” about the painstaking efforts in capturing the exceptionally intimate footage. In one partic- ularly exhausting example, cameraman Barrie Britton and his crew carry 40 pounds of equip- ment on a multiday trek into the jungles of Pa- pua New Guinea then spend days staking out a male bowerbird to capture a first in nature film- making: a pair of the birds mating. The team films the act in its entirety, an event that lasts . . . all of five seconds.
EDWIN GIESBERS/NATUREPL.COM
A strawberry poison dart frog from Costa Rica from the new four-disc box set “Life.”
These behind-the-scenes stories — from the
crew that spent a year capturing time-lapse im- agery of plants growing in an English garden to the group that spent two weeks sending cam- eras soaring into trees to get just the right shot of millions of monarch butterflies clinging to the branches of Oyamel firs in a Mexican forest — are as compelling and impressive as the tales of survival in the documentary itself, making “Life” a richer, fuller experience on DVD and Blu-ray. The box set misses an opportunity to be com-
plete, however, in the audio-track department. Two versions of “Life” are being sold in the Unit- ed States — one that features the David Attenbo- rough narration from the original BBC series,
TOP
What Washington is watching
5
“Dear John”
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(with Amanda Seyfried, above)
“It’s Complicated”
and another with Oprah Winfrey’s voice-over, as heard in the Discovery Channel incarnation. Since the Oprah version also comes with a mu- sic-only audio track, which allows viewers to watch the animal action without any talking, it seems a shame that a third option with Attenbo- rough’s insights wasn’t also included. As for the deleted scenes, they are worth
watching but, like some moments in the series, can be intense. Footage of a leopard seal thrash- ing around with a bloody, dismembered pen- guin could be upsetting for younger viewers. To its credit, though, this series never shies away from showing us the full circle of life, in all its beautiful, brutal glory.
jen.chaney@
wpost.com
“Avatar” “The Road” “The Spy Next Door”
2 3 4 5
SOURCE: Redbox, for the week ended May 30.
ALSO OF NOTE
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
PG, 2010, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99
The basics: In Tim Burton’s sumptuous retelling of the classic tale, Alice (a lovely Mia Wasikowska) is a 19-year-old girl on the cusp of womanhood who returns to the Wonderland of her childhood dreams to kill the Jabberwocky. Johnny Depp is her protector, the Mad Hatter. The lowdown: This film marks the seventh collabo- ration between Depp and Burton (the first when Burton cast Depp in 1990’s “Edward Scissor- hands”). As usual, Depp is fabulous, but the prom- ising young actress Wasikowska gives a winning performance and dominates the film. The extras: Three short, interesting making-of fea- turettes, with a focus on the visual effects, the characters and the costumes. There is also a brief explanation for the Hatter’s mental state. (The glue used by hat makers in Victorian England gave them mercury poisoning, staining their hands and some- times making them go mad.)
THE WOLFMAN
R and unrated versions, 2010, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.98
DISNEY ENTERPRISES
Mia Wasikowska is a gem as Alice in Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.”
6
ON WASHINGTONPOST.COM
More DVD reviews and information.
The basics: This remake of the 1941 Lon Chaney Jr. horror classic stars Benicio Del Toro as the man- beast. Anthony Hopkins plays his aloof father, Sir John. The lowdown: This version, from director Joe John- ston (“October Sky” and “Jurassic Park III”), is slick- er and more sophisticated than the original, but quite predictable. The special effects, however, are stellar, with Del Toro’s transformation the highlight. Be prepared for much gore. The extras: The special features on the regular DVD are lean: only a few deleted and extended scenes. The Blu-ray version goes much further in this department, with featurettes on the visual ef- fects, stunts and makeup transformation.
— Amy Hitt
DUE TUESDAY
Take a journey to France with John Travolta in
From Paris With Love,
under the sea in the Disney documentary Oceans and to a sinister outpost in
Scorsese’s Shutter
Island, then head back to Washington in Toe to
Toe.
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