Critic Reviews

Elevated by Hans Zimmer and his team’s grandiose musical accompaniment, and bolstered by unrivalled footage obtained with the utmost preparation, care, and skill, Planet Earth II is a more than worthy successor to the extraordinary 2006 BBC production.

An exquisitely rendered documentary of the natural world. ... As a show, it is masterful work. As an instrument of love and affection for the multitudes of life on this fragile world, it is indispensible.

Prepare to reattach those jaws once again. Spectacular. What else?

Planet Earth II is on another level. The BBC Natural History Unit has really outdone itself. This documentary is a truly sublime accomplishment, an epic achievement that everyone should watch.

[The cameras'] sophistication and that of their operators are able to capture animals, their behavior and their habitats with an intimacy previously unimaginable, and breathtaking. With all due respect, Planet Earth II leaves its ancestor in the dust. And seas. And mountains. And jungles.

Television sports its fair share of important, engaging entertainment. But Planet Earth II might be the only show that checks both boxes for everyone: It’s the revival we want and the revival we need.

Nearly every frame of it is about strengthening our ability to connect individual experiences with bigger, more universal outlines. It is the rare message that’s both pointed and strikingly understated, which, right now, feels like a balm.

Planet Earth again provides a pretty spectacular view from almost every angle.

Because absolutely everything here is beautiful to behold and the wild lands pictured seem so vast and untrammeled, the overall impression Planet Earth II leaves is that things might be more or less fine.

[David Attenborough] has eschewed the soapbox in favor of subtlety. This program (the series producer is Tom Hugh-Jones) does, too, for the most part.