This Blu-ray release takes you through the early life of Nanu, a polar bear cub as she learns how to survive in a changing Arctic landscape. Through her life (of which we see about eight years), we see how she deals with a sickly brother, and a mother who forces her out on her own earlier than normal. In her adventure, she will have to stay ahead of male polar bears, deal with shattered ice and learn to fend for herself.
The other focus is a walrus pup named Seela. Born to a big family, Seela is taught by her mother and aunt how to break open clams, get up on ice and eventually deal with ice that isn't strong enough to hold her weight. While she isn't forced out on her own like Nanu, there are still plenty of trials to face, one of which is polar bears.
Arctic Tale has all the earmarks of a standard documentary. A famous narrator in Queen Latifah, stunning landscapes, close-up action shots and a lot of effort to make you identify with these two animals. When they face the many inevitable tragedies in their lives, the viewer can't help but feel sorry for the animals. A lot of the movie also seems to be on a somewhat grainy film, and when the film makes the move to Blu-ray, those grains are very apparent.
Arctic Tale comes with a pair of special features. "Making of Arctic Tale" is your standard compliment to these types of documentaries. Here, you see how 15 years of work and filming became the film. This featurette interviews the movie's Directors, Adam Ravetch and his wife Sarah Robertson. Most of this featurette talks about how the pair got as close to the different animals as they did for the film. At first, they used a shark cage in order to protect themselves, but it didn't afford them the freedom they really needed. A good chunk of this Making-Of also talks about how much effort Ravetch went through in order to get a shot of a polar bear attacking a herd of Walrus.
The other featurette, "Are We There Yet?" follows two young children, Molly and Sam, as they go polar bear spotting in Canada. Quite frankly, this is a bit annoying, but it's very informative for little kids since it goes over everything from equipment used in spotting to where to go to find the polar bears themselves.
While Arctic Tale is a great documentary, it gets pretty preachy at times. For one, the movie blatantly points a finger or two at the human population for causing climate changes that cause the ice to take longer to form, and talks about what you can do to help slow down the climate issues. I feel Arctic Tale should be seen by any kids that like animals and are trying to learn anything they can, but I don't really see it necessary to see it in high definition. While this makes a lot of the landscapes crisper, the graininess can also be very distracting.
