Planet Earth III

a film by Kiri Cashell, Tom Greenhalgh, Abigail Lees, Will Ridgeon and Sarah Whalley
presented and narrated by David Attenborough

Whales should be saved and you agree wholeheartedly about that, except as far as you knew they were all pretty strong swimmers anyway. Rhinos should also be saved, but where would you get a rubber ring big enough to go round them?

Gray Joliffe, The Lazy Person’s Guide to Life

If Planet Earth II was a brilliant update to Planet Earth, its follow-up, Planet Earth III, looks like an unnecessary postscript to Planet Earth II. As usual, amazing camerawork and stunning locations. It’s all but destroyed by simplistic writing repeating the same (not winning) formula episode after episode and by a force-fed tree-hugging agenda that would convert born vegans to whale-munching carnivores. Also, some scenes, if not actually staged, certainly look as if they were staged.

OK, I admit it, there are parts worth watching. For instance,

• A sea angel hunting the sea butterfly (Coasts);
• African jacana chicks learning to walk on water (Freshwater);
• Temminck’s tragopan gets disheartened by the sight of the golden pheasant’s mating dance (Forests);
• Jaime Culebras looking for a mate for Sad Santiago (Heroes);
• Almost all of the Extremes episode.

I’ve found on YouTube some pretty cool Behind the Scenes footage that unfortunately didn’t make it to the DVD. Such as this: