I won’t be the first to say that when it comes to narrators for wildlife-themed documentaries, Queen Latifah is not the first name that springs to mind. In Arctic Tale, the latest film to pile on to the nature-docs-from-the-ends-of-the-earth trend, Latifah ultimately acquits herself just fine as a narrator (though a kitschy soundtrack is no help at all), but I can’t help but wonder what Robert Redford or Morgan Freeman would have done with the material.

Arctic Tale offers the story of life north of the Arctic Circle, but rather than cuddly birds we follow a polar bear and her cubs and a walrus and her calf. As you might expect, life there isn’t easy, even for native creatures. I am reluctant to note this here, but life is so tough that one of the three baby animals actually dies on screen, and the other two get awfully close to it, too. When you live on the ice, it seems, you either eat or get eaten.

The film was created by National Geographic so you can rest assured you’re getting the unvarnished truth and what it lacks in dramatic narrative, it makes up with a realistic look at how tough these animals actually have it. That’s worth something on its own. However, those expecting a March of the Penguins-like good time will end the movie feeling awfully depressed. And that’s even if the kids aren’t already in tears by the halfway point.

Christopher Null

Still images