A Little Too Cold
"Arctic Tale" is the second one of these movie star narrated nature documentaries I have watched in a week and it is interesting to compare this to the other movie "African Cats" as they use a similar formula but are poles apart. As such to give you quick overview of "Artic Tale" we have two stories one about a mother walrus and her calf, and then another about polar bear and her cubs. What we get to see is the fun they have but also the dangers of living in the Arctic and we have a light hearted narration from Queen Latifah which combines humour and information to make "Arctic Tale" watchable.
As I said from a formula point of view "Arctic Tale" is similar to "African Cats" but the first thing you notice is that with this being filmed in the cold the image quality lacks something. Maybe it is just how watching animals frolic around on ice makes me feel but it didn't fill me with that same feel good warmth of watching wild cats bask in the sun. It is not just that as a Walrus calf just doesn't have the same cuteness of a Lion cub and whilst a Polar Bear cub has some playful cuteness there is something about one which doesn't make me go awe.
The thing is that whilst "Arctic Tale" didn't draw me in as much as I hoped it is still both entertaining and interesting and in truth I probably learned more from this than I did from any of those nature documentaries hosted by a nature expert. Much of that is down to Queen Latifah as whilst she is working with an uneven script which starts humorous but drifts off at times she has a warmth to her voice which makes her easy to listen to and draw you to take another look at the screen if you had drifted away.
What this all boils down to is that "Arctic Tale" is okay, it is nice to look at and managed to be both entertaining and informative. But either due to the cold conditions or the animals it focuses upon this just lacks something to make it really grab and keep your attention.
