Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

ironhorse_iv Shot over the course of four years with a large film crew, on all seven continents, Winged Migration also known as The Travelling Birds takes its viewers on an aerial breathtaking trip, around the world, with its endless amount of footage of migrating birds. This film directed by Jacques Perrin is indeed, a feast for the eyes. It was shot using in-flight aerial cameras mount on ultralights aircrafts, paragliders and hot air balloon. This allows the viewers to fly alongside with the birds, in a fast, well-craft beautiful traverse appearance. I like that they were, able to capture, all these aerial shots, regardless how harsh, the weather was. It shows, how much hard work, went into this. I love the way, the movie covers vast distances; exposing over 590 miles of film to create an 89-minute piece. The footage shows both the beautiful, natural and man-made landscape of the planet, while also providing us, of a haunting image of our environment wrongs, such as pollution, over-hunting and wasting resources. This movie is flying high with critics. It's a visual masterpiece, but there are some flaws! Sadly, some of the visuals are somewhat choppy at times. One minute, you're looking at one bird, and then it cuts to another bird, in less than a second in frame. The film's lacks direction. It seems without reason at times, drifting between continents and species without that instinctual compass so vaunted in its subjects. Another thing, is that the film forgets stay somewhat grounded in reality. This so-call documentary is full of stage scenes that the filmmakers faked to garnering attention. Some of the footage is very excessive in the way, in how it wants to sensitize people, that it become somewhat annoying. Why would a flock of geese, be, hanging out a beat up truck in a desert? Another thing, are we supposed to believe, that a flock of geese would hang around, a noisy power plant? What the quack! That's kinda unrealistic. I get that the scene where the goose get stuck in a puddle of oil at the factory is supposed to be, an environment message guilt trip, but gees…it really look like it was staged as hell. No animal would bother going, even, near loud and heavy machinery. Anyways, the whole Exxon Valdez oil spill like scene wasn't even real. It was shot in a studio, and the oil was actually milk and vegetable dye with a train goose. The movie is full of scenes like this. Very well-edited scenes, to make the animals seem like they were in danger. The wild horses were in no way, near the geese, to trample them. The baby bird in its nest, was nowhere near, getting slice and dice by the agricultural machinery. The scene in which the injured bird is surrounded by crabs and, unable to fly away and escape, is fake as well. The filmmakers actually pulled the bird to safety before he could be attacked. And to their non-credit as documentarians, they left that part out and instead included a shot of the crabs eating some dead fish. They just cleverly edited the clips together to make you think that poor little bird got kill. The only scenes where birds honestly, probably got kill, are the hunting scenes, and the scenes where wild animals attacks. Other than that, it was very much a control upstage production. Much of the aerial footage was taken of "tame" birds. None of them, were really that wild. The filmmakers raised birds of several species from birth, so that the newborn birds would be imprinted on staff members, and were trained to fly along with the film crews. The birds were also exposed to the film equipment over the course of their lives to ensure that the birds would react the way the filmmakers want. Remind me of 1996's Fly Away Home in the way, they were able to pull this off. Sadly, this movie lies to us, as well. A lot of these birds fly over areas that they normally don't migration. While this film lacks logic in a documentary sense, it gives in to its imagination side, by allowing these birds, just to fly anywhere. While, this is really bad for a documentary, since logic will take you from place A to B; it's good for a movie, because imagination will take you anywhere. Still, it was very inappropriate for these avian animals to fly close and near national landmarks. They could had, gotten seriously hurt. I can't complain, too much, because those shots were indeed very beautiful. The film also states that no special effects were used in the filming of the birds, which is also kinda lying because there been a number of CGI segments that came up, by criticize, from the public. Many of those, are Earth space-like views. One thing that doesn't fly with me, is how much the movie lacks, narration and actual information. While, there is a few mumbles commentary, once in a while from director Jacques Perrin in the film, you never get to learn anything. The movie has more raucous honking and squawking from the animals than talking. The second-rate soundtrack by Bruno Coulais need some work as well. I hate that it cuts off, time after time in the film to bare silence. Honestly, the movie would have work, better with more relax, but inspirational well-known classical music, instead. Overall: This Oscar-nominated documentary film captures awe-inspiring moments, but it failed to live up to what it could've been. Still, it's not bad. It's pretty good. Duck, Duck, Goose! Tag, you're it! Don't feel like a caged bird; fly and get this movie. You will feel better, after watching it. I guarantee it.

billion_mucks ¿It is me or is it not extraordinary that a single documentary filming for hour and a half only birds? Alright, birds are cute, ¿Who doesn't love to see a parrot eating a piece of pie and chanting for 2 minutes? Well, Jacques Perrin achieves with extraordinary cameras (how did he do that?)to trap us in the poetic flight of a condor, in the lightness of an albatross and in the comical stumbles of a penguin. We are amazed just with looking at the bird, learning at its migratory course, and contemplating the fastuose sky that lies as a recurrent location. This film has a poetry, a music that involves the soft movements of the birds. If you are patient and decide to take up this challenge; one Sunday evening after you took a shower: trust me, It will be a everlasting experience.

phatdan As the sun sets somewhere along the western coast of Africa, grotesque, spidery silhouettes gang up on a wounded bird. It was difficult to watch. Yet, it was visually mesmerizing. The crabs were hideous beyond description. Mercifully, the more brutal aspect of this scenario was apparently edited out.Nature is brutal. I personally find little enjoyment in watching predators kill and devour their prey. The baby penguin being torn to pieces by the gull in "March of the Penguins" was unpleasant to watch.Nature films like "Winged Migration" are usually rated G, but one should use caution when showing such films to children. Depending on how sensitive a child may be, some images in nature may prove to be psychologically traumatizing. Fortunately, most film makers of nature know what to edit out when depicting violence in the animal world.The French are good documentary film makers. They know how to capture the beauty found in nature and they can easily be relied upon to reveal its cruelty.

Brevity The cast seems to be very, very comfortable with the camera. I don't know what the director has done to achieve this. I'll take a quick glance around to find out. Oh, so he used professional actors. Good choice. Takes a lot of effort, too - something that must be appreciated.The costume designer must've been smoking something. The designs are in some cases utterly, outrageously unconvincing and inconsistent.The script, then. There are just too many characters. No one gets enough attention. There should've perhaps been less characters. Moreover, it almost seems they aren't even connected to each other. The movie lacks a clear protagonist, a centerpiece. Of the ensemble, the Canadian chaps seem to have a bit more screen time than most. The others do get their moment in the spotlight, and deservedly so. Also featured are very brief but powerful cameos from P. J. Squirrel and Randy Warthog, among others.This paragraph has been designed to be a bridge between the two halves of this comment. I trust you'll notice what changes.I watched a version cut into a two-part miniseries and with Finnish narration, so I can only speak about that. (No penguins! Now, where the penguins? The runtime seems to be the same, though, so I don't know...) It isn't very informative. Eero Saarinen's voice stated such facts as "it is not for aesthetic reasons that the birds fly in formation". Mm-hmm.Some bad-quality video shots - if I have seen correctly - here and there and the ill-chosen music almost ruined my awe at points. I didn't notice the much talked-about CGI shots. Maybe there were none in this version.But the visuals... Simply stated, they are breath-taking, particularly during the airborne scenes, as you'd imagine. One four-second shot of a (excuse me while I consult my dictionary) stork above the Pyrenees alone is worth it.