After the success of March of the Penguins, Arctic Tale is the next documentary feature by Paramount Classics and National Geographic Films that captures the life stories of 2 other animals living in the Ice Kingdom. 

The feature narrates the lives of a polar bear cub, Nanu, and a walrus pup, Seela. Narrated by Queen Latifah, Arctic Tale tells their stories by the 2 main character’s points of view –documenting their physical landscape and way of life, the emotional roller coaster that they have to face and the bigger picture of the changing environment.

2 separate stories are told as Nanu learns the ropes to surviving in the cold, barren Arctic region with her mother and brother while Seela is protected and brought up by her mother and aunt in the seas. Both stories are weaved through a common thread of love, life and death, survival and how they learn to face the changing landscape around them. Ultimately they live to reach adulthood and the cycle of life starts again when they become parents.

The film was produced as a result of stitching up 15 years’ worth of footage from living and shooting in the Arctic region, which is a remarkable feat for directors, Sarah Robertson and Adam Ravetch. The footages were edited seamlessly, creating an illusion that the crew managed to follow the same 2 families from life to death. The amazing scenes of nature would have any moviegoer in awe of the natural beauty the region has to offer despite being sunk under snow all the time. Some scenes were grainy but you can’t fault a filming crew when they are facing animals the size of an 800-kg car with the ferocity of a lion coupling the fact of the bone-chilling, minus-40-degree-Celsius weather.

The movie managed to get the audience going with funny, endearing moments by both the bear and walrus, and there also were teary-eyed moments when they face death. Yet, seeing walruses fart for at least 20 seconds on screen didn’t tickle my fancy nor give these animals a good thing to remember by.

The narration by Queen Latifah was welcoming, as her voice was warm and did not put the audience to sleep despite 80 minutes’ worth of a lone bear walking around looking for food and a family of walruses swimming in the sea. However, it did seem that the narration was written in mind with 2 particular prerequisites – Queen Latifah and children. Lines such as, “That’s how they roll” felt out of place for a film as such but seemed perfect for “ghetto” Latifah. Also, in a bid to be kid-friendly, the seriousness of the message seemed lost and many truly educational opportunities were fleeting. By anthropomorphising the animals and having some funny but uncalled for scenes, like the walrus farting, which was shown twice, the film was more fiction than documentary.

The original music too, though crafted to suit the scenes in harmony, felt a little cheesy and out of place for a documentary feature. This felt like it was done in a bid to keep the children happy in the cinema. While it wasn’t obvious in the beginning, an adult moviegoer would easily see the relation of the scene and the lyrics of the songs explicitly after the first few rounds. It may not be irritating to some, but it does seem to spoil the impact of the beautiful visuals.

The message of global warming only came at the last scene of the show, where text fills up the screen and tells the audience that the Arctic could be virtually ice-free by the summer of 2040, endangering lives of all the animals living in the icy North.

An improvement could be made by having more nuggets of information for the audience to read and understand the changes in the Arctic at the end. The true message and intention of the directors would then be communicated without having one to research or second-guess. One example would be how polar bears never used to prey on walruses, but are now forced to due to the change in environment. This would have made the choice in featuring these 2 animals in this movie understood by everyone, clarifying all doubt and uncertainty that may have risen with regards to the objective of the film.

Arctic Tale is recommended for the whole family unit, and one should enter the movie without any expectations just yet, so as to enjoy it as it comes. While one would undeniably make a reference to March of the Penguins, I would urge one to enter the cinema with an open heart and simply take in the wonderful scenes, go home and research to grapple with the difficult truth of global warming.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Movie Details:

Opens: Sept 13

Running Time: 83 minutes

Narrated By: Queen Latifah

Directors: Adam Ravetch, Sarah Robertson