Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Just saw this on Animal Planet.... Not many films I'll sit through start to finish on commercial television. This one was so worth the aggravation of a commercial break or two.Simply amazing. Had to research the director to find out how he managed such magnificent camera work. Methods were surprising. But it all served to great ends. The film is so moving and inspiring. I found myself wanting to join Green Peace or the Audubon Society afterward.Any film that brings man closer to nature to appreciate the world around us all is a magnificent feat indeed. If more people demanded this kind of entertainment the world would be a better place.This film is now one of my top 10 favorites of all time.RECOMMENDED HIGHLY

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.

While I was in awe watching this truly superb documentary I felt there was really something missing: there was no explanation of the migration, no real educational content which would have left the viewer enriched. All we saw was a glimpse at the number of kilometers flown and the name of the birds. The film did not attempt to explain the extraordinary journeys these birds undertook and left me with a sense of missed opportunity, almost a real big waste: they had me captivated and transfixed for an hour, why not nourish my intellect as well as my eyes? At the very least the DVD box could have contained a booklet filling these knowledge gaps - and if someone knows of any such publication that would shed light on this movie I'd love to hear about it!

The photography in this outstanding movie is simply astonishing. You are constantly asking yourself: "how did they do that?" What is more amazing is that they did not employ any trick digital techniques - what you see is real, the result of four painstaking years. A beautiful, uplifting film. There are images that will live with you for a long time. And you do not have to be a bird lover to enjoy it (I'm not). The DVD contains a very interesting "making of" feature which explains how they captured the amazing footage. It shows how they "imprinted" the birds from birth to be comfortable around humans (using techniques pioneered by Konrad Lorenz) and thus were able to film them close up. Jaw droppingly beautiful. The greatest nature film I have ever seen.