Arctic Tale: Critic Reviews

It's a respectable attempt to get kids who like cuddly animals thinking about death and destruction on a global scale.

Displaying more corn than is usually found at the North Pole, Arctic Tale documents the travails of a polar bear cub and a walrus pup as they struggle toward adulthood.

Whatever problems some might have with its execution, it's hard to argue against a film whose intent is to kindle youthful compassion for living things and inspire action to protect Earth and its creatures.

Arctic is as charming as it is instructive.

The babies are adorable, the soundtrack choices ('We Are Family') obvious, the biological diversity awe-inspiring.

I'm no holdout about the reality of global warming, but fictionalizing and anthropomorphizing animal adventures to make the point and then calling it a documentary puts these filmmakers in a league with pre-Sicko Michael Moore.

Makes the mistake of anthropomorphizing its subjects and substitutes pallid whimsy for reportage.

It's aimed at kids, and it hits them squarely: My 6-year-old and his friend sat stock still, hypnotized.

There's no Jane Goodall required. And the absence of humans proves we needn't be onscreen to make our presence known.

Despite its sad scenes, it sentimentalizes. It attributes human emotions and motivations to its central animals. Its music instructs us how to feel. And the narration and overall approach get in the way of the visual material.

Watching bear cubs and walrus pups struggling to survive against increasingly tough odds, and on ever-slushier ice shelves, has both its shamelessly manipulative side and its dramatically necessary side, as handled here.

Watching these endangered species evolve new approaches to hunting and shelter is fascinating, but the movie is seriously marred by a cloying screenplay and such kid-pleasing touches as shots of walruses belching and farting.

Whether you're more attuned to adorable animals or environmental issues, Arctic Tale is pretty cool.

The best thing about Arctic Tale is the vivid underwater cinematography, shot with such urgency and vibrancy that one might suspect a little CGI assistance has been employed.

But the script, narrated by Queen Latifah, is so embarrassingly dorky (it was co-written by Kristin Gore) that it's like Fred Rogers gone hip-hop.

See this in a cool theater on a hot summer day.

The point is made: life, as the wondrous animals of our very far north know it, is severely endangered. And that can only spell disaster for the inhabitants of lands farther south.

Nevertheless, Arctic Tale is a kid-friendly, non-preachy window on the north as a place of wonder and a harbinger of change -- and I'll take Queen Latifah's warm voice over Al Gore's drone any day.

The film would be more enjoyable if one could turn off the soundtrack and simply revel in the stunning visual evocation of this white-on-white world.

Despite the film's undeniable technical achievements, it's hard to walk out of the theater without sensing that you've witnessed a bit of a cheat.

The live-action animal drama Arctic Tale arrives in an impressive visual package and even boasts a timely message, but its undistinguished storytelling is a big letdown.

Arctic Tale isn't a documentary. They say it right there in the title, see? It's a tale. [Blu-ray]

The photography of Arctic Tale is what makes it so good. The nature documentary style of this movie is brilliant and breathtaking at times.