Arctic Tale (2007)



Arctic Tale (2007)
A real adventure in the coolest place on earth

Two narratives -- the life cycle of a mother walrus and her calf, and the life of a polar bear and her cubs -- are used to illustrate the harsh realities of existence in the Arctic.

Genre(s): Documentary, Family
Runtime: 90 minutes
Rating: 6.8/10 (932 votes)
Release Date: 17 June 2007
Country: USA
Languages: English
Company: Visionbox Pictures
Sound: SDDS, Dolby Digital, DTS

Director(s): Adam Ravetch, Sarah Robertson



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Producer(s):
Katie Bauer - associate producer
Kattie Evans - co-producer
Tim Kelly - executive producer
Adam Leipzig - producer
John Bard Manulis - executive producer
Kevin McCarey - executive producer
Chris Miller - co-producer
Chris Miller - post-production producer: Visionbox Media Group
Michael Rosenfeld - executive producer
Keenan Smart - producer

Writer(s):
Linda Woolverton - (narration) and
Mose Richards - (narration) and
Kristin Gore - (narration)

Cast:
Queen Latifah - Narrator
Katrina Agate - Kid in End Credits
Zain Ali - Kid in End Credits
Preston Bailey - Kid in End Credits
Kwesi Boakye - Kid in End Credits
Michael Huang - Kid in End Credits
Sierra Marcoux - Kid in End Credits
Dante Pastula - Kid in End Credits
Peyton Pearson - Kid in End Credits
Isabella Peschardt - Kid in End Credits

Music: Joby Talbot

5 Responses to “Arctic Tale (2007)”

  1. ah-melody Says:
    August 3rd, 2007

    Let me start off by saying that this movie contains some amazingfootage. The images on their own tell a beautiful story, and alsoillustrate the effects that global warming is having on the arcticEco-system. The videographers should be very proud of their footage.However, the narration and the tacked on story totally demean whatcould have been a great thing.

    Unlike Morgan Freeman's sparse, but insightful narration in March ofthe Penguins, Queen Latifah proves to be an intrusive and irritatingguide into this world. Her voice over mostly consists of the kind ofhip hop language that has been out of date since about 1993. We arealmost never given a moment in which the images are allowed to telltheir own story. On top of this, there is a 3 minute sequence of fakeWalrus farting that makes us think we are watching Norbit instead of afilm about animals trying to survive. In addition to this, there areseveral other instances of obviously artificial sounds that the filmmakers try to pass of as being part of the natural environment.

    One of the worst elements of the movie is the demonization of the malepolar bear. All of the other characters are presented as desperate forfood because of the effect the melting ice has on their hunting habits.The narrator condones them in whatever they do to make sure they don'tstarve. The male polar bear is not looked on with the same sympathy. Heis presented as a sadistic villain who wants to eat and destroy otherinnocent creatures. However, like the characters that we are supposedto like, he too just wants to eat and survive. This highlights what isperhaps the films biggest flaw; it is afraid to portray humans in anegative light, even though we are the real villains. More intelligentfilms, such as Happy Feet, put humans in the villain role, and as aresult got some unfair reviews by people who were uncomfortable. ArcticTale is obviously self-conscious about this.

    The movie leaves us with footage of small children talking about taking"baby steps" like driving a hybrid and recycling. Well, if this is anurgent crisis, we should be taking more than baby steps.

    Once again, this movie has some amazing footage, and is wellintentioned. Its good that people are paying more attention to theissues presented than they have in the past. However, the way the filmis executed is more of a doping of the massed than an educating.

  2. bensch256 Says:
    August 5th, 2007

    This was an extremely touching and moving movie. It displays the livesof two young creatures, a female polar bear and a female sea elephant.They are both born at approximately the same time and are raised in thesame general area of the Arctic. (North Pole) The movie covers 8 yearsof their lives as they grow up and become mature adult animals. Itcovers how they were raised by their parents, how they learned to huntand survive and ultimately, how they dealt with the changes globalwarming is causing to their environment. It's an extremely movingpicture without making the animals TOO anthropomorphic. (like humans)

    I highly, highly recommend this movie. If you saw "march of the emperorpenguins", then you should see this movie as well.

  3. adamrav Says:
    September 4th, 2007

    The movie is all real, and based on 15 years of experience andobservation in the Arctic. Everything in the movie has been factchecked in three separate sources by National Geographic, who demandsstrict scrutiny. The movie will make you laugh and cry. It educates andentertains. It is a fine story. Queen Latifah delivers her narrationvery straight. she is warm and funny. The movie is different then whatyour used to because it presents itself as a story, it reveals itselffrom the point of view of the animals like a story book. It does notstop the story to describe scientific facts and explanations, insteadthe facts and information are part of the story naturally. This allowsthe film to tell a story that involves it's audience, putting them intothe here and now with the animals.

    This movie is designed for young people and families. Just because itdoes not use scientific language that would clutter the beautifulimagery does not mean that the story is not authentic.

    gather up some kids and go to Arctic tale. You will be moved by thismovie.

  4. DICK STEEL Says:
    September 8th, 2007

    In 2005, March of the Penguins brought us to the Antarctica, andintroduced the life cycle of the emperor penguins to the mass audience.And Happy Feet was quick on its erm feet to seize the initiative andmake an animated feature on our non-flying friends. Now, we journey tothe opposite pole to visit Polar Bears and Walruses, but somehow, theformer proved to be a logical choice for promotional posters. Havingthe worlds #1 brand use them in their advertisements, and as I recallone cheeky ad involving a bear shaving excess fur, you would havethought that this would make another documentary worth sitting through.

    But Arctic Tale is not March of the Penguins. Narrated by QueenLatifah, it relied on similar themes and tactics in its narrativethough, featuring the circle of life, and cute offsprings that you justwant to cuddle (before they become big and aggressive enough to tearyou apart), but apart from those, it's a totally different ball-gamealtogether. For starters, the focus on Walruses allowed some kind ofparallels to be drawn with the Polar Bears, with the common startingpoint for both species, the threats that they both face in terms ofsurvival, and how intertwined their lives are actually, because one isprey to the hunter.

    It's amazing how the footage seen in the documentary were captured. Asthe end credits rolled, you do see stills on how up close and personalthe filmmakers get to the action. But what amazed me more is how astory can be weaved from the footage shot, without being too contrivedor artificial about it, despite relying on composite characterscreated. What I liked too is the observation on the animal speciesthemselves. While the Polar Bears are more independent and don't huntin packs, the actions of the Walruses, while they live as a community,do not demonstrate that they'll behave likewise when faced with apredator. Their all "man" for himself attitude do seem quite selfish,especially when a reliance on strength in numbers will probably help.But that's the way the circle of life rolls.

    While it played out rather straightforwardly, what I thought was amissed opportunity was the very superficial glean on probably animportant message these days – climate change, for the worse. With therising temperatures, the polar caps are melting and shrinking, posing adirect challenge to the animals' habitat and a threat to theirsurvival. The white, snow covered land mass they are living on, areslowly disappearing, and living off a grassland covered rock, doesn'tseem to cut it, at least, not for the Polar Bears. Arctic Tale presentsthe effect of this change, but doesn't address the climate concerns.

    Perhaps that's best left as a topic in itself. As far as Arctic Tale isconcerned, it has presented and preserved, the way of life of the PolarBears and Walruses. While not as compelling a story as March of thePenguins, it does serve its purpose, but nothing more. If compared,this one rates a notch lower.

  5. TwentyCalls Says:
    September 10th, 2007

    After watching this show, I would not recommend anyone to spent moneyto watch this on the big screen. I happened to have 5 free tickets tobring my kids to watch it. If you have not been reading news and do notknow what is global warming doing to our planet, or where do polarbears live (besides the zoo), or how walruses look like, then perhapsthis show will benefit you. Other than that, there was really nosignificantly new or interesting information that I gained from thisdocumentary. The net result – an animal story about animals strugglingto survive – non-dramatized. Not entirely bad, I did appreciate theskills and patience of the crew in producing this show. It was welldone.

    By contrast, the "March of the Penguins" was a much more interestingand 'moving' documentary.

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