Delta do Okavango: Paraíso das Águas

Marvelous footage. I do have to agree with some of the other reviewers that the narrator didn't do the script justice, which is a pity because Angela Bassett most certainly has "the funk", but she seemingly could not figure out how to deliver the affect that such a lovely documentary deserves.

The first few minutes of the film were refreshing as the viewer is drawn in and the engine is gathering steam, and I was able to make it through the first of the two part series, but I had to give up at the scene of the two lion siblings as they stand at the edge of the water.

The narrator just wasn't able to figure out if she was delivering to an adult audience or a juvenile one, and she tried too hard and fell too short.

This documentary brings you up close and personal with the wide variety of animals that spread throughout the Okavango River located in South Africa. It is no question that biodiversity is crucial through the grasslands of Okavango and the documentary does a great job providing al the details of how the hundreds of species whom which reside on this land, fight to survive and contribute to the cycle of life. Discussing how simply the movement of hippos contributes to the underwater life to how monkeys pollinate flowers to how when the "the flood" comes, it changes the life of all the animals and how they must survive there. Then once the water has dried up yet again, the animals must re-adjust and adapt to the driest of lands. Angela Basset does a great job narrating the lives of these beautiful creatures on earth.

A huge improvement on the quality of National Geographic's camera work. A very conventional Okavango documentary and no new ground broken. It is let down by Angela Basset's embarrassingly poor script and dreadful delivery. Her breathy monotone performance is saturated with saccharine artificial drama. A stereotypical bed time story delivery that completely lets down the otherwise food production. National Geographic would do well to find a narrator with true understanding and passion for the subject matter - not something that can be synthesised by a rather ordinary actress.

Great camerawork but the narration is just awful. The script has no sense at times, the narrator's voice is monotonous and boring. Such a pity.

The visuals and cinematographic efforts in this are terrific, including some angles that I personally hadn't seen before, despite it not being particularly groundbreaking subject wise.

The narration however was absolutely abysnal, to the point of having to stop watching half way through. Forced, over-dramatised narration, bringing some sort of ridiculous 'good and evil' and even slightly feminist tone to these animals and ecosystems, which by definition couldn't care less.

Recommended visual watch, if you turn the sound and/or subs off, but who watches a documentary without sound. If this existed without narration, it would be 10000% better. Sorry, but this is by FAR the worst narration I've heard in a long time!