Blu-ray Movie Reviews

This is the story of three animal families on a journey across our planet—polar bears, elephants, and humpback whales. Follow a mother bear and her two cubs as they search for food, a herd of elephants as they trek to water-rich lands, and a whale and her calf as they journey to the Antarctic.

Narrated by James Earl Jones, Earth is an abbreviated version of the BBC's Planet Earth that may be more appealing to families with young kids. The editors made sure to delete any frightening images of the wild to not scare the kiddies, and at 90 minutes, it will keep their attention.

While Planet Earth was encoded with VC-1, this AVC encode exhibits many of the same characteristics. There's some occasional banding in underwater shots and pixilation in fast camera pans, but overall the presentation is outstanding. Colors are vivid, detail is crisp and highly revealing, and the shadow delineation is outstanding.

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack isn't earth-shattering, but James Earl Jones' deep voice comes through with succinct clarity. The dynamic score by George Fenton captures the spirit of the film and envelops the room with plenty of bleed toward the rear speakers. The sounds of the wild—such as wind and birds—populate the rear speakers and provide suitable ambience.

As with most Disney kids-oriented titles, there's a DVD copy of the movie along with standard supplements that include a making-of featurette (HD) and Bonus View commentary with facts and trivia. The coolest feature is Disney's "Living Menu," which highlights different areas on our planet with ecological information about the particular region that will update each month with new locations (Profile 2.0 players only).

I prefer the BBC series over this tamed-down version, but if my kids were younger, the abbreviated approach would be great to introduce them to some of the planet's other inhabitants. The presentation is superb, and the "Living Menu" featurette is an excellent learning tool. Recommended for families with young kids.

Release Date: September 1, 2009
Studio: Disney

Movie: 8/10
Picture: 9/10
Sound: 8/10

Review System

Source
Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 power amplifier
Belkin PF60 power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics