Great Migrations

Migrations' animals provide a humbling lesson in resilience and determination. [15 Nov 2010, p.44]

Great Migrations lets us be amazed rather than telling us to be, and the amazement quotient is, yes, amazingly high.

We may have seen film of migrating wildebeest and zebras on the Serengeti before. But Great Migrations looks at everything from new and spectacularly beautiful angles.

The series is animated mostly by the perfectly legitimate reason of invoking sheer wonder, but the scientific episode gives a fascinating glimpse of what scientists still have to learn from these creatures.

The postproduction excesses may sometimes distract from the series' wonder, which, if not quite up to Discovery's Planet Earth (2007) and Life (2010), is still jaw-dropping.

While the first four parts (airing in two-hour blocks) of National Geographic Channel's sweeping nature film rival the majesty and wonder of Discovery's "Planet Earth" and "Life," the final three amount to DVD extras, padding out the exercise.

If you've seen the many hours of "The Blue Planet" and "Planet Earth," or are a regular watcher of the nature documentaries constantly available on cable, then you've already seen most of what Great Migrations has to offer, or some version of it.