I'm all for showing viewers of all ages documentaries that might enlighten them in some fashion. That's particularly true when it comes to animals, their lives and the world in which they live, and how humans might have an impact on all of that. That said, I'm not in favor of such films that bend or manipulate the truth and/or tack on unnecessary add-ons in the belief that viewers, particularly younger ones, won't otherwise watch or learn from them.
After all, I grew up on Jacques Cousteau and those wonderful National Geographic specials, as well as the likes of Wild Kingdom. At the same time, I also enjoyed those old Disney nature films (with the baritone narrator) that had the same end purpose, but were obviously far more melodramatic for effect and entertainment purposes than their more serious brethren.
Yet, even they feel like a Masterpiece Theater version when compared to the latest "let's introduce the animals to the mass audience" "documentary" about polar bears and walruses, "Arctic Tale." I have no idea what the original intent was for filmmakers Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson when they set out many years ago to capture their first footage of said animals. The end result, however, has the feel of studio meddling somewhere along the line, turning what could have been an enlightening documentary into a piece of mass entertainment that only the youngest of viewers will likely fall for, hook, line and sinker.
You see, it's another example of anthropomorphizing animals, thanks to the script penned by Linda Woolverton, Mose Richards, and Kristen Gore (Al's daughter). Here, as wildly out of place narrator Queen Latifah (forced to use, presumably because of her race, various bits of street slang from time to time) informs us, we have Nanu the adorable baby polar bear and Seela the walrus pup (that only a mother could love, and only if she's the kind with long tusks and lots of blubber). With the Queen narrating as we go, we follow the critters from infancy, through adolescence, and finally adulthood, just in time to have their own litter (and, suspicious minds might guess, "Arctic Tale 2").
The problems stemming from all of this are multiple. For starters, and according to the filmmakers themselves, the humanized animals we're watching turn out to be a composite of many. Once one is aware of that, it makes the film feel like something of a cheat (although one could presume it's not the first nature documentary to be guilty of that), when not otherwise taking one out of the proceedings by wondering how they managed to follow the exact same two animals for all of that time.
While such footage is good (albeit no better than what one might see on any cable TV nature channel), it's undermined by poor post-production choices. Among them are adding all sorts of human type sounds to various actions (such as when falling/sliding down a hole, or during a mass farting bit from the lounging walruses after a meal), the narrative parts that paste on human emotions to the animals that don't naturally possess the same), and the most egregious of all, the inclusion of old song such as "Celebration" and "We Are Family").
It's been a while since I last viewed a Cousteau special, but I don't ever remember hearing anything like that. And the inclusion of said music feels as racially motivated and insensitive as the street slang remarks (neither of which presumably would have been present had, say, Patrick "Star Trek" Stewart served as our trusty storyteller).
Does that mean kids aren't going to like it? Hardly, and given their box office response to "Happy Feet" (not a documentary, but an anthropomorphized musical), I'm guessing that's what the filmmakers and/or more likely the releasing studio is aiming for.
Aside from the aforementioned issues, the story of the two critters and their travails is engaging enough for kids and adults alike. And it's not until the very end (with a tacked-on bits featuring children not-so-spontaneously telling the viewer) that global warming is mentioned by name, although it's referenced throughout the film in terms of the effects of melting ice on the animals and their instinctual way of going about trying to survive and eventually reproduce.
If not for the glaring problems and faults, this could have been something akin to "March of the Penguins" (which suffered a bit from some of the same, but clearly not to the same extent). As is stands, it's far more for the little ones than any adults in tow. That is, unless you enjoy listening to Kool and the Gang or Sister Sledge when not hearing a bunch of walruses en masse flatulence maximus. "Arctic Tale" rates as a 4 out of 10.
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