"The Meerkats" is the last film Paul Newman made, as he narrates this documentary about the Meerkat. He died the same year the film debuted.
Unlike many TV documentaries, "The Meerkats" tends to use the same style as many of the big screen Disney nature documentaries from recent years. It has gorgeous and breathtaking cinematography but also tends to humanize the animals, attributing human characteristics like love, fortitude and the like to animals. It also supposedly follows one meerkat, Kolo, through life...though I suspect Kolo is actually several different meerkats. The average person will probably like the narration, though I am sure biologists watching won't. I wasn't impressed by it...but I cannot in any way fault the great cinematography and wish I'd seen it on the big screen.
I noticed one reviewer said they thought it was better than "The March of the Penguins". I would say they're roughly the same quality and think the reality is that you'll like whichever one features animals you like best. I prefer penguins...but that's just me.
Overall, a lovely documentary the shows parts of the world and animals you might not otherwise see. I have spent about a month in South Africa...and I didn't get to see this desert portion, so I'm glad I watched the movie.
By the way, as I watched this with my aunt and she made a comment I wholeheartedly agree with...that when they show other creatures, they should identify what they are...either in captions or the narration. Often we saw birds of prey in the film and they were never identified...something which isn't just a problem in this nature documentary.
Unlike many TV documentaries, "The Meerkats" tends to use the same style as many of the big screen Disney nature documentaries from recent years. It has gorgeous and breathtaking cinematography but also tends to humanize the animals, attributing human characteristics like love, fortitude and the like to animals. It also supposedly follows one meerkat, Kolo, through life...though I suspect Kolo is actually several different meerkats. The average person will probably like the narration, though I am sure biologists watching won't. I wasn't impressed by it...but I cannot in any way fault the great cinematography and wish I'd seen it on the big screen.
I noticed one reviewer said they thought it was better than "The March of the Penguins". I would say they're roughly the same quality and think the reality is that you'll like whichever one features animals you like best. I prefer penguins...but that's just me.
Overall, a lovely documentary the shows parts of the world and animals you might not otherwise see. I have spent about a month in South Africa...and I didn't get to see this desert portion, so I'm glad I watched the movie.
By the way, as I watched this with my aunt and she made a comment I wholeheartedly agree with...that when they show other creatures, they should identify what they are...either in captions or the narration. Often we saw birds of prey in the film and they were never identified...something which isn't just a problem in this nature documentary.