One Life

Absolutely love nature documentaries, and it is always interesting when you see the life cycle of various wildlife and watch their wide range of emotion and how they overcome any adversity in a way that is very human. What also fascinated was Daniel Craig narrating in a role that couldn't be more different from his James Bond, it interested me to see whether he could do something very different from his typecast image and what better way to do than narrating nature documentaries.

Luckily, 'One Life' is a hugely successful change of pace for him and it is an outstanding documentary in every way. Had no doubt that 'One Life' would be at least good, how could it not be with the subject, and it turned out to be even better than expected. One of the best documentaries seen in a while actually, the general standard of recently seen documentaries being between above average and brilliant, so solid if inconsistent.

'One Life' is spectacularly photographed from start to finish, such as with the cheetahs. The scenery also left me in awe, in a way that's beautiful but also unforgiving. This is not a case at all of seeing cute animals in beautiful environments, there is much more to 'One Life' than that and that is the case with the best nature documentaries too. The music fits very well stylistically and had no problem with any of its placement or tone.

It actually seemed to remember what genre it was scoring for, it had no out of place pop or over-grandiose scoring that seemed to try too hard to be cinematic and it was not over-used. There were actually some effective scenes that were in complete silence, like the aforementioned one with the ibex. Craig does a wonderful job delivering the very educational and sincere narration, his delivery is playful but also very honest in the scenes where a serious approach was needed.

Had no issues with the narration writing itself, it does so well entertaining and teaching and tonally it is well balanced and varied. The animals are amazing and there is a lot of equally astonishing footage that is so well photographed, informative and emotional. The younger animals are very cute, the maternal ones are wonderfully caring and the predators are suitably sinister. Memorable scenes are too many to list, but it is especially good in the more predatory scenes. The animals' lives are so easy to engage with and relate to and it made me laugh in the more mischievous youthful moments, frightened in the moments of truly brutal adversity (yes that is not shied away from) and there were parts that moved me when the animals had to overcome a lot and either struggled or triumphed.

Concluding, outstanding. 10/10.

One Life is a beautiful documentary about animal life on Planet Earth. There were some really charming parts about the cycle of life showing animals that have caring and dedicated Mothers. I especially enjoyed the Snow Monkeys and the Brazilian Capuchin Monkeys. They were pretty cute and crafty in how they kept warm and fed. Another favourite part of mine were the Elephants marching towards water and the rock climbing goats.

Daniel Craig has a nice voice for narration and the scenery was breathtaking. I don't watch a lot Documentaries like this one, but I enjoyed it.

This documentary is just a collection of selected scenes/stories from the more comprehensive BBC series Life but is fantastic nevertheless even if you have already seen it on TV. For me the one standout was the narration by Daniel Craig and the very subtle music. Here in the US the TV show was narrated by Oprah Winfrey which was a disaster. You might not think of James Bond as a narrator for a nature documentary but Craig really did a great job on this one. He really conveys the astonishment and wonder that you feel watching these animals in his tone of voice but in a very playful way. And the music is very subtle and not too dramatic. In fact the total silence with no music and no narration in the scene with the Ibex climbing down the cliff is more powerful than if there was any. My favorite scene however is the one with the cheetahs on the prowl filmed head on, with the cats walking almost straight ahead towards the camera, it just conveyed a sense of power of the predators on their land. Highly recommended regardless of whether you watched the TV show or not.

This is a BBC Earth documentary narrated by Daniel Craig. These kinds of docs are starting to blend together. I've seen sections of this somewhere else. Wait! I think I've seen this one before without writing a review. That's one of the reasons that I started writing reviews years ago. I wouldn't be able to keep them all straight without doing that. Craig has a vaguely British accent. I can recognize his voice once I read the cast list. The fact is that if I can remember four or five of these animals, then this must be really good. The only deficiency is that they have very little tying them together. I guess the point is that we're all one world and that's what ties us all together. Duh!

From a technical aspect, this movie is amazing. I haven't seen such detailed cinematography filmed with dedication and pure talent. It must have been so hard to film all that, I just cannot imagine the effort. Sound is also great.