'Flight of the Butterflies' (2012)
Opening thoughts: My love for documentaries, especially nature ones, is probably quite well known now. When it comes to nature documentaries to me David Attenborough will always reign king when it comes to output and presenting, but there have been numerous documentaries without his involvement that are just as great in their own way while not quite being milestones. There have been quite a number of narrators/presenters that do a more than worthy job on their own merits.
Butterflies are much more fascinating than one would think and aren't explored enough. Or at least focused on comprehensively and individually in documentaries. While 'Flight of the Butterflies' is a long way from perfect and won't ever be up there with the best documentaries, for one on butterflies on their own 'Flight of the Butterflies' is more than worthy and well worth watching. A lot of good things are here with the best being outstanding, and while a few things are unevenly executed or could have been done a lot better nothing is done disastrously.
Good things: Starting with the good things, 'Flight of the Butterflies' mostly looks great. The scenery is to die for and is gorgeously photographed. There is fascinating information throughout, learned a lot about butterflies. Much of what was said was not familiar to me but that did not alienate me. The way it is written is accessible without being simplistic and is not corny or preachy.
Luckily, this information is well delivered, not jaunty or melodramatic. The butterflies are very cute and this reviewer really cared about them. 'Flight of the Butterflies' felt rushed or dull, and unlike other documentaries featuring CGI/IMAX it didn't feel too short. It never felt too saccharine or cheesy.
Bad things: Here comes the bad sadly. It does suffer from excessive use of over scored music, which came over as very melodramatic and like the composer didn't know what they were scoring for.
As well as very inconsistent 3D effects, mostly flat and like they were made in haste, and they didn't feel necessary. Really sticking out like a sore thumb, compared to how good the rest of the production values are.
Closing thoughts: Overall, pretty good and recommended but not everything comes off.
7/10.
