Arctic Tale

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After the surprising box-office success of several wildlife documentaries like "Winged Migration" (2001) and "March of the Penguins" (2005), movie studios started taking the animal world more seriously. Although the films "Madagascar" (2005), "The Wild" (2006), "Happy Feet" (2006), and "Surf's Up" (2007) all featured animated animal antics, you can see how popular the genre became. Which brings us to Paramount's "Arctic Tale" (2007), the real-life animal movie from the same "National Geographic" folks who brought us "Penguins."

"Arctic Tale" and "March of the Penguins" share a lot in common in terms of showing us the struggles and hardships of wildlife in opposite frozen poles. Just don't expect the same kind of poetic vision you saw in "Penguins," the same inspiring action, or the same imposing narration.

The new movie tells two stories simultaneously, alternating between the two. The first story involves a newly born polar bear cub named Nanu, her twin brother, and her mother. The second story involves a newly born walrus pup named Seela and her auntie. We follow both of these young animals through the first couple of years of their lives as hunger, predators, and global warming threaten their existence.

Here's the thing, though: The filmmakers are not content merely to film the creatures in their native habitat. Instead, they invent hazardous undertakings for the animals, for which they provide a spoken narrative. As the filmmakers clearly staged these episodes, even unto naming the animals, the film is not exactly a documentary. And since most of the episodes are rather innocuous, they're not exactly riveting adventures, either. At least not for adults. So, I'd guess the movie works best for younger children, who might not know much about wildlife or the warming threats to our world.

Be that as it may, there are moments in the film that children might find unsettling, like the sight of animals eating one another (polar bears hunt and eat seals, after all) and visions of death in the animals' families.

Queen Latifah narrates the film, and her voice is sweet and comforting. Still, it doesn't carry the authority of Morgan Freeman, who did "Penguins" and simply has the best narrative voice in the business. Now that I think about it, this might be a matter of Latifah being an ideal choice for kids and Morgan for adults.

Here's the way Latifah explains the Arctic in her preface: "...to most of us, it seems a frozen wasteland, but for creatures designed for astonishing cold, it's always been a paradise on Earth." Unfortunately for the animals, as the movie goes on to point out, this paradise is receding, evaporating, melting away like never before, thanks to the actions of Mankind.

The best thing "Arctic Tale" has going for it is its incredible photography, some of the scenes breathtakingly beautiful, particularly the underwater shots. Then, too, the filmmakers capture the attractiveness of the animals in all their natural splendor. The bears are especially handsome, the arctic foxes are adorable, and even the walruses, as ungainly beasts as ever there were, the filmmakers give a due respect. Plus, the filmmakers contrast the solitary ways of the polar bear with the close family ties of the walruses. Therefore, if you add in the global-warming element, one certainly can't fault the film for its efforts to educate and enlighten. OK, I'm not sure we needed a whole scene showing a herd of walruses burping and farting, but, again, this is a film aimed at youngsters, and such realities are sure to please them.

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