One Life (2011)

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

"One Life" is for the most part a brilliant documentary about life in the animal kingdom. My chief complaint is the scene about the shoal of fish where they hide in a crowd to conceal themselves. The birds dive bomb them from the air while the dolphins and swordfish attack them from the depths. I saw this same ritual enacted in another BBC documentary. The rest of the action, like the dragons stalking the water buffalo, the fox pursuing the ibex, and the mouse eluding the lizard, is outstanding because the filmmakers explain the strategy of survival in the animal kingdom. The birds that mate and dance were cool. Basically, if these sequences have been done before, then my complaint would have applied. However, I haven't seen enough animal documentaries to skewer the filmmakers on repetition. I sat through this 85 minute feature and was dazzled by the complex as well as complicated cinematography and the extent to which the filmmakers went to make everything seem so cinematic. The scene about the ants cutting down blades of grass so they could take them back to their ant bed to feed the grass to a fungus that the ants thrived on was fantastic. Similarly, the ants created ventilation shafts to clear out all the carbon monoxide that got trapped in their kingdom that would kill them from the interaction between the grass and the fungus. The sequence about the monkeys using rocks to smash their food so they could eat it was terrific, too. Daniel Craig did a fabulous job with his beautiful English accent in the narration.

One Life is a beautiful documentary about animal life on Planet Earth. There were some really charming parts about the cycle of life showing animals that have caring and dedicated Mothers. I especially enjoyed the Snow Monkeys and the Brazilian Capuchin Monkeys. They were pretty cute and crafty in how they kept warm and fed. Another favourite part of mine were the Elephants marching towards water and the rock climbing goats.Daniel Craig has a nice voice for narration and the scenery was breathtaking. I don't watch a lot Documentaries like this one, but I enjoyed it.

This documentary is just a collection of selected scenes/stories from the more comprehensive BBC series Life but is fantastic nevertheless even if you have already seen it on TV. For me the one standout was the narration by Daniel Craig and the very subtle music. Here in the US the TV show was narrated by Oprah Winfrey which was a disaster. You might not think of James Bond as a narrator for a nature documentary but Craig really did a great job on this one. He really conveys the astonishment and wonder that you feel watching these animals in his tone of voice but in a very playful way. And the music is very subtle and not too dramatic. In fact the total silence with no music and no narration in the scene with the Ibex climbing down the cliff is more powerful than if there was any. My favorite scene however is the one with the cheetahs on the prowl filmed head on, with the cats walking almost straight ahead towards the camera, it just conveyed a sense of power of the predators on their land. Highly recommended regardless of whether you watched the TV show or not.

Watched this documentary at the Mumbai Film Fest. Didn't expect a film on wildlife and especially one that entertains you, makes you laugh, rejoice, wonder and feel what the animals feel. 'One Life' has action, drama, romance, humor, tragedy, gallantry and all the ingredients that goes into making an entertainer that would delight the kids, as well as the adults equally. The effort into capturing the nitty-gritties of wildlife is awe-inspiring. And, Daniel Craig's narration is music to the rhapsody. This documentary soon could be one of those classics that you might want in your wildlife series collection. This one you shouldn't miss.