America the Beautiful

Given that it's done by National Geographic and Disney, it's no wonder it comes off as a modern take on Disney True Life Adventures. The photography is flawless and stunning, but the narration is more anthropomorphized feel good aimed at elementary school kids than actual scientific education. That's not necessarily a bad thing if it gets kids interested in nature and caring for the planet.

As Episode 1 ("Land of Heroes") of "America The Beautiful" (2022 release; 6 episodes of about 45 min each) opens, we are in North Dakota, where a red squirrel is gathering food for the long winter ahead, only to be challenged by scavengers. What is the squirrel to do? We then go to the wetlands in Louisiana, where a 15 ft alligator is patrolling the neighborhood, ready to pounce at any time...

Couple of comments: there are so many nature documentaries out there, so how does this one compare? Actually not that good, I'm afraid to say. Let's start with the positives: there is some amazing footage in this 6 part series, and some of it is hard to watch (see how the grizzly bear hunts down a caribou calf that literally was born only hours before). But there is way too many aerial drone footage of massive landscapes that fly by in seconds, and the opening episode crisscrosses North America without any rhyme or reason (literally going from the Grand Canyon to the northern lights in Alaska within minutes. I couldn't make any heads or tails as to the overall direction or purpose of this. What it really felt like was a "greatest hits" collection of animals in the wild in North America. Perhaps for some viewers, this is more than enough, but I felt that the haphazard nature of the underlying script and its correlating editing didn't do this mini-series any favors, unfortunately.

"American The Beautiful" was released, appropriately enough, this past July 4 (2 weeks ago today). If you like nature documentaries, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Micheal B Jordan's voice over is so dry and mono tone and sometimes incomprehensible it ruins an otherwise stunning documentary. Why put so much effort to capture these amazing visuals and ruin it with a terrible voice over ? The person who thought his voice suited this documentary should be fired for ruining this otherwise amazing documentary.

Maybe the most creative, beautiful and dynamic aerial shots I've ever seen, not just in a nature documentary but in every media ever. The animal roster is fine, though a bit too much of the most famous species like grizzlies. Man, they are getting really boring now. Seeing a bear catch salmon was fun in the first 50 documentaries they are in, but after that, it gets repetitive whether the cinamtography is creative or not. It's a shame that the creators of nature shows like this don't think that fish, amphibians, reptiles or insects are just as (or more) interesting as a bear or a lion or an elephant. This series lacks these groups, focusing too much on mammals and birds (mostly mammals).

But it's okay, I can't judge a show by the animals it features, so the only negative point is because of the narration. It is just cringe. Especially the totally random "heroes". "This squirrel is hero because it exists. This bear is a hero because it has eaten a fish." - and this is not an exaggeration. The narration is so very far from the beautifully written Attenborough stuff. When I was a kid, I was inspired by his work in every possible way, so I just can't imagine that a goofy narration like the one in this series is needed to get the attention of children.

Cinematography is fantastic, but narration isn't my favourite. It's a little childish, of course they've likely done that on purpose, but I really don't like all the animals being constantly referred to as 'heroes', feels corny. But all in all an enjoyable nature series.