The Age of Commercialism

Strong and Moving!

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I can't believe anyone would give this a bad review. It's amazing graphics and so fun to watch. Which I did watch it like three times in a row. I recommend this to anyone who is an animal lover. A lot of fun and a new perspective and filming style. Very expensive to shoot. I believe at the end there is a section where they explain the amount of money and work put in to filming this little treasure. Would recommend 100%. It shows the African sengi, one of the cutest things I've ever seen. You can watch the dung beetle rolling around his giant turd balls. You actually experienced the life from the little animals point of view. Watch as the giant predator swoops in and the run for their lives to find cover.

I found these series PURE art. Intertwined with the latest technology and awe-inspiring narrative, I felt succumbed into the world of these hidden kingdoms which, thanks to these brilliant minds behind these series, do not feel so remote to us humans, anymore. To be honest, I felt connected to the lives of these tiny creatures. It all seems so familiar. The struggle for survival, the daily challenges, the escape from predators, the chase for food, the planning for the future, the thirst for new experiences and independence. The only thing missing is love but that may well be another familiar feeling to us humans too.. I would watch them over and over again, the thrills, the visuals, the stories they all fill my imagination with joy.

Hidden Kingdoms is an embarrassing and misleading attempt to create the life world of small creatures like rats, marmosets or large beetles and show their day-to-day struggles for food, breeding and maintaining territory.The shows team overproduce every shot with high-frame slow motion sequences that are often interjected into something resembling live action footage à la "the Matrix". Completely overcooked foley fills entire episodes with preposterous sound FX, and whats worst of all is the lame computerized compositing effects, employed to show slow motion 'glory shots' of small creatures leaping to and fro. This is the only nature doco series I know of that uses a freaking BLUE SCREEN and comps its subjects in front of fake exotic backgrounds. The show's clearly too cheap and quickly produced to get rid of the fuzzy outline and obvious colour grading mistakes every time they appear. The soundtrack all-too-frequently blares loud Broadway style gangster music or massive classical crescendos while showing something as commonplace as a beetle climbing out from under some rice grains.To be honest about the quality of camera equipment, there are occasionally some great close-ups of the critters on show in this series, but often the choppy and confusing editing, the endless music video style transitions and sheer lack of establishing shots evince an annoying sense of falseness that permeates these overproduced, wide-angled "power documentaries" or whatever they're supposed to be.Its unfortunate that Stephen Fry got involved in this project as narrator. He's not exactly desperate for a paycheck, BTW. Trash television at its worst.

WOW! just WOW! When I saw this documentary starting up on the television, i thought it would be just another Animal Planet style of depicting animals in the usual fashion, but boy was I wrong!!!The visuals in this film are absolutely fascinating. Taking the perspective of a tiny mouse and other tiny creatures that we don't seem to care much about as opposed to large cats. Who would have thought the film maker could have captured such a suspenseful existence! The way the film is shot, takes you right beside these little fellas, and shows the courage that they much show each day, in such glorious fashion! Slow motion shots capture a much more entertaining style of Hollywood film and at the same time, maintain a level of education that you would find in any well planned out documentary. Stephen Fry does a great job in narrating the film in a very calm fashion. It doesn't need lively commentary, because the visuals take care of that!As far as documentaries are concerned, this is essential viewing. I am so glad I checked it out when it came out on television here in Australia, and you can be assured that I will be tracking down the DVD!