Excellent but underrated film

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Another exemplary documentary from the fine American documentary maker Ken Burns. This one has a smaller scope than the other documentary series I've seen from Burns, which typically explore wars the like; this one examines the Roosevelt family, which gave America two presidents alongside many other interesting historical figures. The film has an intimate, personal tone and I'm not ashamed to say I was involved enough to shed tears in the final instalment. This is because the series is so good that it makes you feel like you know the characters involved. I had my suspicions that there wouldn't be enough material to sustain a lengthy running time, but I needn't have worried; this is endlessly engaging, fascinating in fact.

I've watched this series multiple times. I'm not political. I've never really paid much attention to the Roosevelt's. But I absolutely love biographies. Ken Burns has done a fantastic job with this series. I totally recommend anyone who enjoys biographies to watch this series. I came away thinking that our country could use another Teddy Roosevelt. His beliefs and tactics is something our country could definitely use right now. Not too fond of FDR based on this series. Wish it would have went more into Elanor since she was a true Roosevelt by blood (side note....I knew they were cousins before I watched this and it's still very icky that he married his cousin). I would love for Mr. Burns to create more biographies of this nature. I've tried watching others and they've failed to keep my interest like this one did.

Again, another of Ken Burn's masterpieces well worth watching and learning. In the following, I will be exposing the reader to historical events. If one does not want to learn of them at this time, please do not go any farther.Of all that Theodore managed to accomplish in his seven years as President by: Taking on the monopolies of big business and threatening to use the Army to run them for the sake of maintaining fairness and a continual flow of necessities at a reasonable costSetting aside national parks and preserves at the combined size of Texas, including the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, among othersReaching out to the average man and giving him hopeBuying and building the Panama Canal after taking that region from the Columbians by arming the Panamanians and sending in troopsHis willingness to display courage and aggression against who he perceived as the enemy, i.e. during the taking of Juan hill in Cuba ...and there is so much more for which he deserves praise.But, I cannot get my thoughts around the fact that within the space of eleven months, while hunting big game in Africa -- a pastime I hate so very much -- he sent and carried back home with him over 11,000 pelts of lions, tigers, elephants, rhinos, birds, and every conceivable animal from that continent. I hate him for displaying such evil and wickedness, and wish he had been the one born disabled so as to make him unable to initiate such a horrible holocaust.

The Roosevelts is an informative if flawed documentary series on one of the preeminent families of American history, tracing its exploits from Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency of FDR. It offers a wealth of detail for devotees of American history to chew on, but at times glosses over both context and the flaws of its subjects.The series' strongest point is the amount of information it marshals on its protagonists. All but the most devoted Roosevelt fans will learn something new here. The series discusses not only the presidencies of Theodore and Franklin, but also their family lives, their travels, and their struggles. Perhaps the most moving portion is the section dealing with FDR's struggle with polio, a subject that receives too little attention in most discussions of his character.The film also benefits from the wealth of primary sources that Ken Burns always brings to his series. We get the correspondence between the various Roosevelts, as well as commentary from other contemporary figures on their activities. All these sources are read by a talented voice cast that includes Meryl Streep and Ed Harris.However, the series also suffers from the weaknesses of many of Burns's films, including a lack of historical context and a tendency to gloss over uncomfortable subjects. As informative as the film is about Franklin, Eleanor, and Theodore, we get very little understanding of the times they lived in. For instance, the film does not discuss the causes of the Great Depression. Rather than an event with roots in previous economic policy, it comes across as a storm that just rose up out of the blue.More disconcerting, The Roosevelts often downplays the rougher edges of its subjects. For example, although it at times references Theodore Roosevelt's callousness towards the suffering caused by war, it tends to play down his often vociferous racism. It briefly mentions an incident where TR unjustly drummed a group of black soldiers, including former comrades of his, out of the service after false accusations of murder by racist whites, it largely ignores his role as a prominent defender of eugenics and racist immigration policies. (Interesting historical tidbit: TR attacked Margaret Sanger, who is much more commonly vilified for her eugenic sympathies, because he feared her birth control clinics would dampen the birth rate of the "racially pure.") The most egregious omission, however, is in the sixth episode, dealing with the early years of World War II. It devotes at most two minutes to discussing the internment of Japanese Americans, most of which focuses on Eleanor Roosevelt's ambivalence towards her husband's policy. To essentially gloss over a major tragedy in American history is simply unacceptable. Whatever one's feelings about the internment, the series should at least have looked at the policy discussions underlying Roosevelt's internment decision. An interview with a surviving internee would also have been a good addition.That said, the series does offset these omissions to a certain extent by featuring commentary from modern critics of the Roosevelts. George Will and Clay Jenkinson offer particularly incisive remarks. For all its flaws, The Roosevelts is still an informative series and could be useful for classroom use, especially in short segments.