Life (2009)

Let's be realistic.

Best movie ever!

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Great documentary. I cannot say anything negative of this, it was simply amazing

Despite how much he apparently dislikes the term "national treasure", that term really does sum up David Attenborough to a tee. He is such a great presenter (in his 90s and still sounds, and looks on a side note, great) and whenever a new series of his is aired they are often among the best the BBC has done in years.Am a great fan of a lot of Attenborough's work and BBC's nature documentaries with his involvement are among their best work in years. Have been watching the BBC less over time, but there are always exceptions, unexpected gems and expected treasures that come our way every now and again and their nature documentaries are the perfect examples of expected treasures. 'Life' is a crowning achievement for a documentary series and actually, like the best documentary shows, feels much more than that. As far as Attenborough's work goes too, 'Life' to me is one of his biggest achievements.'Life' is an exceptionally well-made series first and foremost, in fact saying that doesn't do the production values justice. It is gorgeously filmed, done in a completely fluid and natural, sometimes intimate (a great way of connecting even more with the animals), way and never looking static. In fact much of it is remarkably cinematic. The editing is always succinct and smooth and the scenery and various habitats are remarkably diverse and look speechlessly spectacular.On a documentary level, 'Life' continually fascinates and illuminates, while there are some familiar facts here a lot of it was very much new (like a lot of the principles of evolution) and by the end of the series for me more was gotten out of it, and educated me much more than, anything taught when studying Geography in secondary school. Attenborough's narration helps quite significantly too, he clearly knows his stuff and knows what to say and how to say it. He delivers it with his usual richness, soft-spoken enthusiasm and sincerity, never talking down to the viewer and keeping them riveted and wanting to know more.The wildlife and life-forms are both adorable and dangerous, the wide-ranging diversity of what was included was staggering and it was lovely to see a mix of the familiar and the not-so-familiar. How they adapt to their environments, why they behave the way they do, how nature works and how what the wildlife and life-forms do affects their environments were all touched upon and made their points subtly, not hammering it home too much (a potential danger with documentaries).Many powerful and poignant moments, as well as suspenseful ones, while not trying too hard to evoke a viewer reaction. One really cares for what they're told and the wildlife. Each episode doesn't feel like an episodic stringing of scenes, but instead like the best nature documentaries each feels like their own story and journey, with real, complex emotions and conflicts and animal characters developed in a way a human character would in a film but does it better than several.Overall, a crowning achievement, for Attenborough and nature documentaries in general. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I was expecting this film to have a creationist slant, but it does not. It is a bit like David Attenborough for children. It has first class nature photography, but it is aimed at children with a dumbed-down narration by Oprah Winfrey and somewhat Disneyfied music. It sometimes has an odd prudishness about fish reproduction.The creatures chosen are each bizarre and entertaining but ones I have seen before.Some of the principles of evolution are presented, but in a subtle way. The focus is on strange animal behaviour, not how it could have evolved. I learned something new, that the schooling behaviour of anchovies is indeed very effective against predators.It is not totally prettified. It shows flamingo chicks that died after they fell out of the nest.I think the insect segment was most interesting with the most material I had not seen before. The jousting tournament with the surprise ending really tickled me.There are bits of Disneyesque anthropomorphising, for example talking of insects "fighting for their dignity".This is first rate family entertainment. I am ready to see it again already.

After the tremendous success of the extraordinary and revolutionary nature documentary series Planet Earth, a similar programme was bound to follow, and indeed it did. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, this series uses the same special camera normally in the film industry to slow down the quickest action and get close to it. The programme sees how the animals and creatures of all parts of the world manage to survive, looking at what they eat, giving birth, fighting, looking after each other and much more. Throughout the programme we see reptiles and amphibians, mammals, fish, birds, insects, hunters and hunted, creatures of the deep, plants and primates. It was interesting to see the familiar animals and creatures you have seen many times in other programmes, but also the ones you have probably never seen. Filled with colourful worlds, magnificent living things and hearing the wonderful narration by Attenborough makes this just as brilliant as its predecessor, a must see. It won the Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming "cinematography team", and it was nominated for Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming, Outstanding Sound Editing for Nonfiction Programming (Single or Multi-Camera), Outstanding Sound Mixing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming. Very good!