Image Entertainment | Buy at Amazon | Review by Sinferno
Everyone has a favorite movie on their video shelf which does not belong: a classic childhood cartoon compilation on the shelf of a die hard horror freak? A beloved romantic comedy book-ended by underground torture porn movies? Or a documentary of the increasing callousness of violence in the media on the same shelf as the complete Traces/Faces of Death boxed sets? Everyone has got one, and I figure it's time to tell you about mine.
THE FUTURE IS WILD is a 3-DVD boxed set by the Discovery channel which attempts to explain what life will be like in 50 million, 100 million, and 200 million years into the future, respectively. This series depicts what the future of life on this planet will look like aided by state of the art computer animation (for 2004). The show is speculative of course, but highly entertaining. The animals themselves are fantastic, straight Harryhausen, but every time a new creature is introduced and shown starring in his own short survival story, the footage is validated by various interviews with human biologists and climatologists which allow even the most hardened skeptic a chance to wonder what-if??? I truly cannot imagine a better boxed set for all ages.
Now granted this was material originally broadcast on Discovery channel so of course the action will probably leave underground cinema fans wanting more. While admittedly the action isn't as Rated G as say the computer generated movie Dinosaurs, as the animals in this movie actually behave like REAL animals, killing, eating and fucking, the fact of the matter is, you could probably see more savage animal antics at your local zoo, and the action is always implied rather than shown. Still certain specimens like the Deathgleaner, the Ocean Phantom and the Sharkopath will give your kids more terrible nightmares than any of the creatures in the recent Journey to the Center of the World movie remake. Seriously, there is something beautiful and unsettling about the denizens of this documentary, perhaps because they are based in (alleged) scientific fact that makes them more horrible to think about than any latex or CGI creature from the usual made for TV monster movies on Sci-fi channel that they play all weekend long. And even while the computer graphics seem slightly dated by today's standards, the production values are still apt and intuitive. For example, whenever a new creature slithers onto the scene, a basic name, description and ability screen momentarily appears which will instantly be recognizable to anyone under 20 as the player character select screen from a video game. Still, the struggle for survival is not child's play, and these films dramatized fantasy; fictional animal fights with a serious documentary style that was at times Pokemon, and other times like Mutual Of Omaha's Wild Kingdom on psychedelic mushrooms.
Seriously, pick this up. Whether your kid loves dinosaurs, you enjoyed Land of The Lost or a kid, or you want to see some physical violence every bit as fake as TV wrestling but has some cerebral value, you cannot do any better than this boxed set. Famed programmer Will Wright's recent game "Spore" was based almost entirely on this series, and unlike that disappointing game, these media disks will endure and entertain your children and your children's children for generations, or at least until the earth freezes and the Snowstalkers come for them. What can I say? I am a sucker for happy endings.
| Yucko/Neato Factor: Humankind is gone and the world is ruled soley by exotic ruthless bloodthirsty creatures? Who says misanthropes can't believe in the future anymore? |
 |
| Production Values: Computer graphics of creatures are slightly dated. But the backgrounds look real because they are. Profound! |
|
| Realism: Every time they brought out a creature too great for the viewers suspension of disbelief, a noted scientist would come on and explain exactly how and why the thing would evolve, exist and how it could kill you on sight in the time it took to finish his sentence. |
 |
| Value for Price: $29.95 for three disks full of action that you will never forget. It's a tame ticket price for a wild ride. |
|
| Plot: A day in the life of various animals, that never existed followed by cold calculating statements of fact narrating the fake footage as if from a real documentary. A complete product and a class act. The ending of disk three removes the need to ever make a sequel (400,000 million years, anyone?) and made me laugh uproariously in ways March of the Penguins never could. |
 |
