Has there ever been a more superbly made nature documentary than Life, a co-production of BBC and Discovery Channel? Narrated by Oprah Winfrey and beautifully filmed and edited, it is the most entertaining and visually stunning television documentary that I have seen. Now this magnificent natural history series is available on DVD.
Even the packaging of the four-DVD boxed set is attractive, with holographic rays and backgrounds and embossed title and animals. There are also awesome stills of some of the animals featured (did they put the two-page flamingo spread in there just for me?).
Special features include “Life on Location” (“a collection of ten behind the scenes video diaries showing the exhaustive efforts by the filmmaking team…”), deleted scenes, and—my favorite—a “Music Only” viewing option. No slight to Ms. Winfrey, but without the narration the DVDs provide delightful “wallpaper.”
As narrator, Winfrey is the right balance of serious and amused; she ably conveys the whimsical aspects of what we see on screen as well as the life-or-death existence in the wild. There is a certain enthusiasm in her narration of Life that is engaging. Winfrey lends a more familiar, family-friendly voice to the commentary.
Life presents all the episodes that were broadcast earlier this spring on the Discovery channel. The first disc offers “The Challenges of Life,” “Reptiles and Amphibians,” and “Mammals.” Disc 2 has “Fish,” "Birds,” and “Insects”; Disc 3, “Hunters and Hunted,” “Creatures of the Deep,” and “Plants”; Disc 4, “Primates,” “The Making of Life,” and “Deleted Scenes.” Each episode stands alone, introducing the viewer to different species with which we share our planet. It’s impossible to pick a favorite because they are all so well produced.
One of my favorite aspects of Life is that those responsible either did not suffer the temptation, or avoided it thoroughly, to focus on the brutality of the wild and animals mating. Yes, sex and violence. These elements are not ignored but they are treated as part of the story, not the heart of it. There are scenes of predators and their prey, and they are real, not prettified (if that’s at all possible), and there are scenes detailing procreation, but there isn’t all that much that even the youngest viewer can’t watch.
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
I watched Life as it aired on Dicovery, but I'll be buying the UK edition on Blu-ray. I think Oprah WInfrey was a terrible narrator, simply dreadful.
In the first or second episode, she actually spoke the words "a egg-eating machine." Not "an egg-eating machine," "a." That wasn't nearly the only problem with her narration, but it stands out as something that so startled me I don't remember much about the next several minutes of the show.
I watched this show with my kids, hoping that they would be exposed to the wonders of life, not errors in grammar. In later episodes, my kids all noticed odd pacing in the narration, almost as if Oprah were recording her first reading through the text.
I've sampled the Attenborough narration online, and already have Planet Earth with Attenborough rather than Sigourney Weaver, so the UK edition of Life seems like a no-brainer for me.
Same video (actually filmed by the BBC, not Discovery), but a narrator who knows what he's talking about, and how to speak English properly, and at the same price from Amazon!
2 - El Bicho
I have heard a few people have no interest because of Winfrey. Rather surprised the makers don't offer both. Wouldn't cost much to add
3 - Miss Bob Etier
Since writing this review, I've found that a LOT of people found that the Winfrey version compares unfavorably to the Attenborough version. I'm glad that I had the Winfrey experience first so I don't feel cheated! Whatever the case, I find the videos very enjoyable with the sound turned down, accompanied by something cool on the stereo.
4 - A Geek Girl
I want Oprah to narrate my life.
A egg-eating machine who lays around all day in thermal pajamas, galoshes and an deerhunter cap, drinking peppermint Schnapps with an beer chaser and munching on Captain Crunch straight from the box.. oh yeah and eating a egg.
5 - Miss Bob Etier
Yes, but would you like an egg with that?