Mutant Planet

This geological/animal/evolutionary documentary manages to be very informative, spectacularly shot, but staying hugely fun at the same time. It's similar to other relatively narrowly specialized nature documentaries like Speed of Life, Life In Cold Blood, Madagascar and Galapagos. They all combine fascinating narration with great camera-work and rarely seen subjects.

If you have any interest in watching the weirdest animals out there, crisply shot from every imaginable and unimaginable angle, this is it and you'll be hooked. Wait till you see the shot of an ant-eater taken from the termite mound which he is violating (with his half-a-meter tongue). However, this is not just a queue of weird-looking animals grouped region-wise. The main subject of the narrative is EVOLUTION. For every armadillo and slug they show, they track their evolutionary history back to, say, just before Gondwana's breakup, and use DNA info and CGI imagery to tell the history of both the animals and the region. That's why this doc ends up somewhat more informative than most other similar mainstream titles. And I love their sparing use of CGI - to the point without overdoing it. 9/10.