Fantastic Fungi

Even though majority of the film feels to be informercial, I enjoyed it very much. "Mushroom voice" was a bit strange and the feeling of disbelief would not leave me at some moments. But in the end, this Psilocybin thing is acknowledged by FDA and seems to truly help people. So I do not mind this to be informercial in order to spread the word. The story is touching enough and the visuals are just tops.

My subject line says it all, and I basically find myself in agreement with most of this documentary's critics. The time-lapse photography of sprouting mushrooms, branching molds, etc., is breathtaking. The narration that accompanies it is empty, useless, disorganized to the point of incoherence, filled with random claims about the wonders and cosmic significance of fungi, and ultimately a bore. The decision to focus on the biography of one individual mushroom maven seems particularly misguided.

An outstanding sporegasm of a documentary about the enchanting and mysterious world of fungi and the phenomenal power it has to perpetuate life and rebirth from death and decay. Love the stoned ape hypothesis - magic!

I enjoyed this documentary. It was perhaps more entertaining than informative in certain parts of the film. I do wish they had provided more scientific information. There were a lot of theories and ideas I was ready to get behind if given the proof and thinking behind it, but then it would just kind of drop off and move to something else. I wish less time would have been spent on the one man who we follow and more time on his actual research and findings. There was one discovery he made that he explained and that was fascinating. But other aspects of his personal experiences such as tripping on mushrooms for the first time could have been reduced or cut.

The time lapses we're really beautiful throughout, I loved seeing the different species bloom to live or break down decaying wildlife and food. That was all really incredible to see. I truly believe in the overarching message of this, which is that fungi have the ability to regulate and control just about everything. They're an amazing part of nature, and all nature deserves to be respected.

Before I say anything else I just wanted to mention that the CGI is absolutely beautiful in the documentary. I was surprised to see no other review mentioned the stunning CGI. The graphics are hands down one of the best I've ever seen in a documentary, especially the scene that shows the tree/mycelium network.

The documentary starts off pretty good, it offers a lot of interesting information and explores the world of fungi. We get introduced to a few scientists/hobbyists who make up the work of fungi research (They all look exactly how you'd expect a mushroom researcher to look haha). I particularly liked learning about how trees will use the mycelium network to give nutrients to each other.

The second half of the documentary does take a turn for the worst. The documentary switches from being about the fungi, to being about the people that like fungi. Though I do enjoy the people's enthusiasms for the field, It made the documentary slow down substantially and I found myself losing attention. You could cut off the last 30 minutes or so and the documentary would be amazing.

Overall, I recommend watching Fantastic Fungi but don't feel guilty turning it off towards the end because you won't miss much.