Planet Earth (TV Mini Series) Jungles (2006) User Reviews

Wonderful pictures of beauty - mystery of life

[martin-krueger · 9/10 · 31 July 2009]

This is one of the most wonderful documentary productions I have ever seen.

Surprising facts (like the Cordiceps mushrooms which grow within insects, for example ants, firstly misleading their brains, then killing the ants, then growing out of their heads).

Beautiful, striking pictures of male birds trying to enchant the females. Amazing pictures of frog females hypnotized by the strongest voice of what is supposed to be the best frog.

But for instance wonderful pictures of natural life, as the growing of plants and mushrooms. These scenes are also apt to be seen by little children of only three, four, five years as I experienced switching off the audio and putting a CD in my player. The kids were fascinated and continuously asked me questions, while I myself invented a children apt audio improvising on this wonderful pictures.

The Incredible Beauty And Strangeness Of The Rain Forest

[ccthemovieman-1 · 10/10 · 1 January 2009]

I was expecting a bunch of wild, ferocious tigers, leopards, panthers, lions, etc., but this episode is more about The Rain Forest than the jungles we think about from Tarzan films or "nature" films we see on television. I guess those animals are part of a different area, such as the plains.

Anyway, I'm not complaining: observing the fantastic greenery and wild assortment of life in the Rain Forest is very, very entertaining. It may be only 3 percent of the Earth's land but it contains, according to narrator David Attenborough, half of the world's species.

There are insects, fungi, animals and birds like you have never seen! The best example of this might be the different Birds Of Paradise and their mating habits. You have to see this, to believe it!

Over 80 percent of the entire word's insects live in the Rain Forest and we see some amazing ones, including "mentally disturbed" ants! The sounds that they - and animals like frogs - make at night are amazing, too.

Some of the best parts of this episode were the speed-up photography scenes showing the amazing development of plant life.

The last part of the show switches to the Congo in Africa where we see Forest Elephants, chimpanzees and more stunning sights. Obviously, this "jungle" episode is packed with a ton of info, sights and sounds.

Jungle paradise

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 14 November 2017]

Absolutely adore 'Planet Earth', one of the best documentaries ever made and actually is more than that. Have remarked a few times that it and its recent follow up (every bit as good) did for nature and out planet as 'Walking with Dinosaurs' did with the dinosaurs. David Attenborough is widely considered a national treasure for very good reason, no matter how much he himself dislikes the term.

"Jungles" perfectly lives up to the never less than great quality of the previous seven episodes of 'Planet Earth' and is a great representation of what Attenborough is all about and what a good documentary should be like. "Jungles" throughout, as with the previous seven episodes and with Attenborough at his best, an awe-inspiring, utterly transfixing experience where one forgets they're watching a documentary and instead feeling like they're watching art. This may sound like extreme hyperbole, but to me and many others 'Planet Earth' is completely deserving of its praise and even deserving of more. To me as well, it is easily one of the best the BBC has done in years.

Where to start with the praises for "Jungles"? It for starters looks amazing. It is gorgeously filmed, those aerial shots are awe-inspiring, done in a completely fluid and natural, sometimes intimate (a great way of connecting even more with the animals), way and never looking static. In fact much of it is remarkably cinematic. The jungle scenery is some of the most breath-taking personally seen anywhere, whether in visual media and real life and the rich colours positively leap out. The music is epic but has just as many quieter moments that speak just as much. The main theme is unforgettable.

Regarding the narrative aspects, "Jungles" can't be faulted there either. The narration has a great well-balanced mix of facts that will be familiar to the viewer and others that will induce the right amount of surprise. In short, it's just fascinating, informative and thoughtful, have never learnt so much about grass and found myself appreciating it more. Everything is intriguing and illuminating, with as much for children to be inspired by as well as adults, and there is just enough freshness to avoid it from becoming stale. Attenborough delivers it beautifully, there's a soft-spoken enthusiasm and precision about his delivery and he never preaches.

The jungle inhabitants themselves, such as the birds, are a wonderful mix of the adorable and the dangerous, and their struggles in the habitat and how they adapt feel very real. What also stands out in "Jungles" is its sense of awe and emotional impact.

Nothing episodic or repetitive here either. Despite covering a lot, there is a real sense of the episode having its own individual story with real, complex emotions and conflicts and the inhabitants developed in a way a human character would in a film but does it better than several.

Concluding, jungle paradise. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Well I don't want to discover Jungles!

[dakuchonekobing · 5/10 · 21 September 2020]

Honestly, I rated this episode by following my heart not my mind. This is really scared episode. I was so nervous. This is so interesting when they tell the story about all the trees and how the plants growing after one tree's dead. And the scene about the cordycep in the ant, it's so bizarre and I know some nerd out there would love that but not me. And the chimpanzee assault is so gross! I know it's nature instinct but still scary. And again, I don't want to explore any Jungle!