David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): October 4, 2020
8.5
USER SCORE
Universal acclaim based on 31 Ratings
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Mixed:
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2
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10
HaymitshOct 4, 2020
A movie which shows us what’s important and needs to be done. A masterpiece of David Attenborough and his crew. They manage to show the viewer an image of the fragile world that’s needed to be seen an spread around the world. Truly a movieA movie which shows us what’s important and needs to be done. A masterpiece of David Attenborough and his crew. They manage to show the viewer an image of the fragile world that’s needed to be seen an spread around the world. Truly a movie which 2020 needed.… Expand
1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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10
mrniceOct 5, 2020
A very beautiful documentary about the most pressing crisis of our time. The nature footage is touchingly beautiful. Attenborough's comments are crucial and on-point.
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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7
Brent_MarchantApr 7, 2021
Legendary broadcaster, documentarian and naturalist David Attenborough's self-described "witness statement" summarizes the 93-year-old filmmaker's experience in unwittingly documenting the accelerating decline of the planet's biodiversityLegendary broadcaster, documentarian and naturalist David Attenborough's self-described "witness statement" summarizes the 93-year-old filmmaker's experience in unwittingly documenting the accelerating decline of the planet's biodiversity (and overall health) during his lifetime. In doing so, he presents his career of findings and a grim forecast for the future unless we change our ways to "re-wild" the earth and adopt sustainable ways of living in order to prevent an irreversible environmental catastrophe. While the message here is indeed important, the warning urgent, the suggested solutions achievable and the cinematography stunning (for better or worse), the overall production feels rather familiar for it to really stand out as groundbreaking, coming across more like a highly polished but not particularly revelatory cable television documentary than the kind of profound, startling offering that one would expect to see in a theater. The first half also meanders more that it probably should, not quite on par with the better-focused second half in which the material is delivered in a more direct and cogent manner. Mind you, this is not to suggest this offering is without merits, but the praise that has been heaped upon it seems more generous than it probably deserves to be.… Expand
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10
JackytheRipperOct 14, 2020
Part autobiography, part documentary of the changes in the natural world, this film is beautiful and sad, impressive and eye-opening. It's clear, David Attenborough had a hell of a career and still has a mission.
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10
AblooblaOct 9, 2020
An urgent plea for the world to pay attention to the health of our planet before it's too late. A must-see.
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10
KonanOct 4, 2020
A fantastic and moving picture of the limited time we have left to make real change.
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10
8isalotoflegsOct 13, 2020
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Quite possibly David Attenborough’s most sobering and somber movie But easily his best. Watch in a kind of horrific awe in what he has seen, and the devastation that human kind have visited upon this earth. It’s no longer a fight for the planet, it’s a fight for human beings to continue to exist.… Expand
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9
wheeelertronApr 11, 2021
Sir David Attenborough summarises his work and understanding here in this empathetic and well-produced appeal to humanity, for once no understatement from him; Stop abusing the planet and it's ecosystems or risk system-collapse and theSir David Attenborough summarises his work and understanding here in this empathetic and well-produced appeal to humanity, for once no understatement from him; Stop abusing the planet and it's ecosystems or risk system-collapse and the beginning of a mass extinction event that maybe we will not survive (the planet will carry on regardless)… Expand
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8
mayacriticJun 1, 2021
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. If you are a fan of the captivating colors and cinematography and Netflix nature documentaries and the silky smooth voice of David Attenborough, the film A Life on Our Planet should be on your ever-growing list of things to watch. If you aren’t too fond of beautiful shots of vast landscapes and have no idea who David Attenborough is, I would still recommend giving this film a watch purely based on the film’s main message. According to Attenborough, who elaborates on how “the natural world is fading. The evidence is all around. It’s happened in my lifetime. I’ve seen it with my own eyes” and spends the rest of the film telling his “witness statement and my vision for the future, the story of how we came to make this our greatest mistake, and how, if we act now, we can put it right” to save our planet. This film provides a very good baseline history of environmentalism to those who may not be aware of the history of the destruction of the planet, but if you would consider yourself familiar with this issue and this information has already been drilled too far into your head I would not recommend this film for you. Some of the clips shown in this film are ones you may have seen before in other documentaries, and the messages warning you about the dying planet may feel like second nature to you. The film can grab your attention with its use of emotion as a persuasion tool, also known as pathos. The severity of the effects of the dying planet is emphasized in one scene by showing Attenborough playing with a popular, well-known species, a gorilla, and describing how this species is dying out. If the threat of no longer having cute little gorilla faces in the world isn’t enough to convince you of the severity of the issue, immediately after there is a jarring and graphic scene of someone harpooning a whale to show the effects of whaling. These scenes juxtaposed each other in their methods to convince you (the one with the gorilla focusing on the cuteness of the animal, and the whale taking the more gruesome route) that this is an issue you should care about. I think this method does a good job of drilling it into your mind. And if those scenes weren’t enough to tug on your heartstrings and let out a tear or two, the film shows a clip of a group of people crying and watching in horror while attending the 2019 IMF Spring Meeting, (and no it's not because they were looking at the climate budget) as they were witnessing another scene depicting another loss of animal life, but this time the focus was on the human reactions. As Attenborough states earlier in the documentary, “now that it was visible, it was no longer acceptable”, which I thought this scene really drove his point in as this was a very clever way to get the audience to feel sympathy and feel something about wanting to solve this issue, by focusing on how other humans interact with it. society have possibly never seen a sustainable type of living before. My favorite feature of this film was a reoccurring graphic that popped up at different points, depicting different statistics throughout the years, such as the world population, carbon in the atmosphere, ppm, and the remaining wilderness percentage. The population numbers flickered up, starting from 2.3 billion people in 1937, 2.7, 3.0, 4.3, 5.9, all the way to 7.8 billion people in 2020. As that shot up, the remaining wilderness percentage fell, 66, 64, 62, 55, 46, 35, dropping like a countdown like a timer of our time remaining on Earth. And it almost is, the scene right after shows grueling renditions of the conditions that we will have to survive in, insane weather patterns, most of the planet being uninhabitable by the 2100s, the sixth mass extinction event will be taking place. Overall this documentary was a very enjoyable experience, so I would score it a ⅘ stars. It would have been a perfect score in my book if I had not seen and heard the material before, but for those just beginning to explore the wonders of our planet, this documentary may be perfect for you. With stunningly colorful and vibrant images accompanied by an iconic narrator, I would recommend watching David Attenborough’s A Life on Our Planet, and I hope this film can capture your attention in ways you were not expecting.… Expand
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