Life Blu-Ray Review And Giveaway

Four years in the making, filmed over 3000 days, across every continent and in every habitat, Life is the latest wildlife blockbuster from the BBC’s award-winning Natural History Unit, the producers of Planet Earth and The Blue Planet. Narrated by Oprah Winfrey, the series presents 130 incredible stories from the frontiers of the natural world, and details the extraordinary tactics that plants and animals have developed to stay alive, overcome challenges, and push the boundaries of behaviour.

The amazing documentary behemoth that aired on The Discovery Channel is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD, and the release is a must own if ever there was one.

The 10-part series defies description, and the up-close look at the life surrounding us must be seen to be believed. Spanning the globe, and covering everything from the tiniest frogs to the largest whales, Life gives you an unprecedented look at creatures great and small, and how they function.

Each episode has a specific focus, though the first is a kind of overview introduction, and they all manage a somewhat unique watchability. Though we may be watching a group of monkeys who use rocks to smash open nuts, or investigating certain species of plants, there is an overall story behind things. It's a better story than we may be used to, because this is a questioning documentary, and one that is merely sharing the wonder of the world around you.

This, as opposed to the generally (and often unhidden) preachy nature of most nature documentaries, those also brought to you by the same team included.

Not only are the visuals often breathtaking and intriguing, the unparalleled look at these bits of Life astounding and entertaining, and the narration more than adequate (though I won't go much further there), but the entire production is also obviously put together by incredibly skilled hands.

Included on the Blu-Ray and DVD release -

Brown-tufted capuchin cracking nuts using hammer stone, Brazil © Simon Blakeney

The Challenges of Life

Introducing the extraordinary things animals and plants must do in order to survive and thrive. Witness capuchin monkeys smashing open palm nuts with stone ‘hammers', hippos launching from the water into the air and chameleons stealing prey from a spider's web. Sprint with cheetahs as they band together to tackle ostriches; watch dolphins form perfect rings of mud to trap fish and swim with a seal as it struggles to escape attacking killer whales in the ice of Antarctica.

Reptiles and Amphibians

From icy wastes to arid deserts, reptiles and amphibians have used their ancient, cold-blooded body plan along with sophisticated behavioral innovations to master the harshest environments on the planet. See Komodo dragons hunting buffalo, sea snakes with one of the most toxic venoms in the world that breed in caves, the seemingly suicidal leaps of a waterfall toad, the tender giant African bull frog that digs water channels to save not only its own young, but that of others too; and lizards that can walk on water.

Mammals

New filming techniques reveal behavior that was previously impossible to capture in extreme locations. Fly among one of the largest migrations on Earth, as more than ten million fruit bats leave the Congo basin and converge in a few special trees in Zambia to feed, sprint with the tiny, extraordinary-looking sengi as it escapes a predatory lizard, see 30 polar bears gather to feed on a bowhead whale carcass and witness the biggest fight on Earth - male humpback whales battling for a female.

Fish

Fish can fly, sense electricity, swim at over 100mph and even walk on land. From the open ocean to coral reef and storm-ravaged surf to the freshwater springs of Kenya, swim with sharks, mudskippers and convict fish. See the hilariously named "sarcastic fringe-head" fighting for its home territory; hunt with sailfish; glide with flying fish; enter the secret world of courting sea-dragons; and even join the epic journey of the tiny, cliff-climbing goby.

Sailfish predating shoal of fish, Mexico © Hugh Miller

Birds

Birds are supremely adaptable, capable not only of flying at phenomenal speeds and covering great distances, but of displaying a murderous nature, running on water in pursuit of love and even of building intricate structures. Using aerial camera techniques, Life flies with the birds and explores their incredible diversity and behavior: dodging the piratical frigate birds; soaring with the lammergeyers; dancing with a thousand flamingos in the lakes of Africa; and witnessing the extraordinary displays of spatula-tailed hummingbirds, western grebes and bowerbirds as they all attempt to attract a mate.

Lesser flamingo mass dancing ritual, Lake Bogoria, Kenya, East Africa © Barrie Britton

Insects

Insects are the most diverse animal group on the planet. The key to their success is their unique ability to reshape themselves. They possess fearsome weapons, yet can display surprising tenderness and sophisticated behavior. Take to the skies with millions of monarch butterflies in Mexico, see a beetle spray boiling chemicals at its enemies, witness giant bees fight to the death over females, join the marching columns of grass cutter ants and spend a jeopardy-filled day with damsel flies.

Hunters and Hunted

Every day, in the jungles, grasslands, deserts and frozen wastelands, battles are won, fought and lost between carnivores and their prey. See cheetahs join forces to bring down an ostrich, a tiny stoat take on a rabbit ten times its size, elephant seal pups snatched from their nursery pool by a killer whale, the antics of a squirrel as it outwits a rattlesnake and at an amazing 2,000 frames per second, the strike of a bulldog bat flying at 60 mph.

Portrait of hunting male Cheetah, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Kenya -Adam Chapman

Creatures of the Deep

Using specially developed underwater tracking time-lapse techniques, LIFE takes a journey to the unchartered corners of the ocean. It's here the newest discoveries are being made and the strangest creatures live, from huge spider crabs which gather in their thousands, seeking safety in numbers as they shed their protective shell, to cross-dressing giant squid. Join a 250-strong pack of Humboldt squid on a hunting expedition, see the ultimate self-sacrifice of a Pacific giant octopus mother who starves to death tending her young and dive under the permanent ice of Antarctica to see a seething carpet of starfish as they devour a seal pup carcass.

Plants

The drama of the plant world is impossible to view with the naked eye. But using the latest time-lapse technology, all is revealed: how a Venus flytrap snaps shut and imprisons its prey and how the animal-like grasping hooks of the cat's claw creeper and the sticky pads of the Boston ivy help in their fight for light. Fly with the seed that inspired the design of gliders, watch the fastest growing plant on Earth rocket up two feet a day and discover the water-trapping abilities of the bizarre dragon's blood tree, which oozes red sap from its branches.

Dragon’s blood tree, Socotra, Yemen © Neil Lucas

Primates

Primates are uniquely intelligent - engaging in problem solving, communication, tool use and intimate social interplay. Primates are uniquely intelligent, engaging in problem solving, communication, tool use and intimate social interplay. In the Congo, meet a tightly bound group of western lowland gorillas led by an ancient silverback, whose chest-beating sends shockwaves more than a mile through the undergrowth. See grey Phayre's leaf-monkey mothers in Thailand battling for the privilege to babysit bright orange newborns, encounter the violent disputes of a thousand hamadryas baboons and join chacma baboons shark egg hunting on the coast of South Africa.

Female Japanese macaque with baby taking refuge from cold weather in hot spa, Japan © Patrick Morris

The Making of LIFE

This special behind-the-scenes episode showcases the exhaustive, remarkable and record-breaking efforts by the LIFE filmmaking team to bring the breathtaking images of intimate animal and plant behavior to the screen.

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The release also includes some deleted scenes, 10 behind-the-scenes video diaries, which are incredible, and the option to watch in "Music Only" mode, something everyone should try out.

Even those with only the remotest interest in such things should check this out. It's a series, and DVD release like no other, and anyone who is a fan of such things will watch this repeatedly.

Check out some great videos

Own it on Blu-Ray and DVD today!

Life Giveaway

Enter to win your very own copy of the Blu-Ray release and the companion book.

Life: Extraordinary Animals, Extreme Behavior – Hardcover Companion Volume:

Life, the spectacular companion volume to the BBC series, tells a majestic and compelling story of survival and of the amazing behaviors animals and plants adopt to stay alive and pass their genes to a new generation. Beautifully written and illustrated with more than 300 high-definition color photographs, Life focuses on the most exciting examples of the millions of species to demonstrate the harrowing and very different challenges that all living things must overcome to prevail and to procreate.

To enter - Leave a comment below. That's it.

Bonus entries - Share/Like this on Facebook, and leave a comment with a link to your Facebook page.

Winner will be randomly selected on July 1st. U.S. only.

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© 2010, Are You Screening?. All rights reserved. Reprinting without express permission of the author is prohibited.

About Marc Eastman

Marc Eastman is the owner and operator of Are You Screening? and has been writing film reviews for over a decade, and several branches of the internet's film review world have seen his name. His reviews have brought him personal praise from the director of a major motion picture, and have been used as required reading in a course at a major University. These priceless rewards, along with just bags of cash, keep him from straying from freelance writing. He is also a member of The Broadcast Film Critics Association and The Broadcast Television Journalists Association.

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