Introduced and presented by David Attenborough, Great Wildlife Moments is a feature-length anthology that compiles some of the most memorable moments from the BBC Wildlife Unit. With a running time of 108 minutes it consists of 38 sequences drawn from the greatest archive of natural-history filmmaking in the world, breathtaking television spanning the entire biosphere from never-before-seen creatures in the ocean depths (Blue Planet, 2001) to Attenborough himself in zero gravity high above the Earth (The Living Planet, 1984). The anthology is divided into seven chapters covering different environments from "Snow and Ice" to "Jungles", an approach that both gives structure to the film and offers an effective vision of the sheer diversity of life on planet Earth. Most people's favourite sequences will be found here, from a killer whale taking a sea lion on the beach in The Trials of Life (1990) to Attenborough communing with mountain gorillas in Life on Earth (1979). Other segments come variously from BBC wildlife specials, Wildlife on One, The Natural World, The Kingdom of the Ice Bear (1985), Life in the Freezer (1993), The Private Life of Plants (1995), Attenborough in Paradise (1996), The Life of Birds (1998) and The Life of Mammals (2002), with additional narrators including John Hurt, Andrew Sachs and Simon King. This is a fine selection made all the more rewarding by Attenborough's endless enthusiasm and celebration of the world about us.
On the DVD: Great Wildlife Moments is presented at 16:9, anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TVs. Unfortunately most of the material was originally shot for traditional 4:3 broadcast and so has been reformatted by carefully cropping shots at the top and/or bottom. For the most part this works acceptably with little of visual significance lost, though a sequence of emperor penguins from Life in the Freezer is ruined. Only one 4:3 segment--Attenborough high in the rainforest from Attenborough in Paradise--has been presented in its original ratio. Picture quality varies depending on the age of the clips, with material from Blue Planet and The Life of Mammals being flawless and older footage offering some grain, which is never too distracting. Sound is again variable, the Dolby Prologic soundtrack effectively smoothing the transitions between older mono soundtracks and more recent surround sound. The main extra is a fine commentary that is specific to each sequence and calls on the original producers, directors or cameramen (most but not every section has a commentary), while a 12-minute "making of" is actually more of an extended trailer for other BBC wildlife DVDs. The disc also includes a useful BBC Natural History Unit filmography. --Gary S Dalkin
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