From the BBC and the Discovery Channel, producers of Planet Earth and The Blue Planet: Seas of Life, comes the newest landmark natural history series, Life. In Planet Earth, we brought you the world as you?ve never seen it... more » before. Now, get closer with Life. Four years in the making, filmed over 3000 days, across every continent and in every habitat, with breathtaking new high definition filming techniques not available for Planet Earth, Life presents 130 incredible stories from the frontiers of the natural world, 54 of which have never been filmed before. Packed with excitement, revelation and entertainment, this remarkable 11-part blockbuster, narrated by Oprah Winfrey, captures unprecedented, astonishingly beautiful sequences and demonstrates the spectacular and extraordinary tactics animals and plants have developed to stay alive.DVD Features:
Great slices of life! Narration not as good as Davids. A must watch!
Laura F. (papaschild) from KANSAS CITY, MO Reviewed on 7/16/2010...
This is absolutely incredible nature footage. BBC is unsurpassed - even with all the other excellent work out there by National Geographic, Nova, etc. BBC has recently re-released Planet Earth, Life (the newest series) and Blue Planet in conjunction with Discovery Channel. The old versions are narrated by David Attenborough and the new (Discovery Channel) versions are narrated by popular actors and TV personalities (Oprah Winfrey, Pierce Brosnan, etc). This "Life" is narrated by Oprah Winfrey. WARNING: No one (including Oprah) can compare with David Attenborough when it comes to this type of narration. You may want to check out reviews for both(such as amazon.com) before you buy. I have listened to both... the same awesome footage is in both versions, which rates 5 stars, but I would hold off for the Attenborough version.
1 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Movie Reviews
Why pay the same for lower quality?
Darren Meyer | Saint Paul, MN USA | 03/20/2010
(1 out of 5 stars)
"The Life series is fantastic, but it comes in two versions -- this one, narrated by Oprah Winfrey for the US market; and the original version as narrated by the naturalist David Attenborough.
While the cinematography remains unchanged, Oprah's narration lacks the depth that Attenborough's years of experience as both naturalist and narrator brings to the table. I strongly recommend waiting for the US release of the original BBC version, narrated by David Attenborough."
You have got to be kidding me.
K.H. | 03/22/2010
(1 out of 5 stars)
"This is atrocious. I'm watching "Life" on Discovery channel right now, with Oprah narrating. Some of the reviewers said that the script was re-written for her, and I can believe it. I can't believe Attenborough saying lines like "hunting crab seals is toooo much work!" Oprah narrates this thing as if she were reading a bedtime story to little kids and comes off as snarky and condescending. In the opening segment, she's discussing a fox chasing an ibex kid and it's basically like "heeeere comes the fox! UH OH!!"
The most embarrassing thing is that I'm thinking that British people think that Americans demanded this. Who's going to be doing the next special, Dr. Phil? "Oh-kaaay, here comes the alee-gaytor, it's prey tries to run, but that neeeever works! HAW HAW HAW!" Don't get this. Get the real version."
BBC knows - Why change what's perfect?
Leonardo de Waal | 03/20/2010
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Why on earth have they decided to dub the documentary into American English baffles me. Is British English appallingly obscure and incomprehensible?
First Harry Potter and now this. What a shameful way to undermine language for the sake of a couple of bucks?
I have various BBC Documentaries - I LOVE them, and despite the fact that I am not British I understand everything, and David Attenborough's voice in much more credible, isn't this what he does professionally?
Oprah would probably be more suitable for bedtime story recordings for sleepy youngsters.
I suggest getting the original David Attenborough version (Check the star rating and compare!)
"
Discovery's choices are insulting to Americans!
hunter_aran | 03/20/2010
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Ever since Discovery started doing these re-narrations of the popular BBC nature documentaries, I have been confused and progressively more angered. Firstly, the fact that they even chose to take David Attenborough's narration out is insulting to one of the greatest naturalists ever. The fact that they could possibly imagine eliminating the man that basically MADE this genre of documentaries is just plain stupid and offensive and undermines Mr. Attenborough's lifelong work, which is especially terrible! Secondly, it makes us Americans look like simpletons who just want big hollywood names (that have nothing to do with anything relevant to this!) possibly in an effort to make us feel special or something!? Another possibility is that perhaps the marketing experts feel Americans are too stupid to understand British English or would be as closed minded to not purchase it because it is not good old "American". This is absolutely stupid. Everyone PLEASE just heed these warnings and buy the Attenborough versions also available and make the sales figures for the "American" version so miserable that Discovery finally gets the idea that we are tired of this crap!"
Visually stunning, but narration put me to sleep.
Raymond | CA, USA | 03/23/2010
(1 out of 5 stars)
"
I have nothing against Oprah. I was very excited to watch the Premier of the Life Series on the Discovery Channel. However, once Oprah started talking you could tell she was reading off a script. Her voice sounded so monotone that within 20 mins I actually fell asleep. The visuals were stunning but I could not stay awake through her narration, it was like a sleeping pill. I'll be picking up Attenborough's version and hopefully it'll be more exciting."