Seasons

An old-fashioned, beautifully crafted nature documentary for family audiences.

Most of the footage is stunning, yet the film is more about observation than visual stimulation.

Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud's Seasons is a nature documentary that reveals itself as a story of tragic usurpation.

The movie’s cinematographers may hog the limelight, but it’s the sweat of the sound engineers that brings their work to life.

While it features some of the most breathtaking nature photography this side of BBC’s “Planet Earth” miniseries, this gorgeously cinematic docu ties said footage to a leaden all-purpose eco-consciousness message that nearly spoils the otherwise timeless experience.

The voice-over narrator (Perrin) recites environmentally pious platitudes that offer little enlightenment about what’s on the screen. This is annoying when something strange and unfamiliar is being shown.

This is an ambitious movie that didn’t come quite together in the editing room.