Nature: Fabulous Frogs Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.5

Nature: Fabulous Frogs Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf August 24, 2014

A world-renown naturalist and television host, David Attenborough has acquired a close-up look at many of Earth’s most dynamic creatures. However, nothing appeals to his boyish sense of curiosity quite like the frog. “Fabulous Frogs” is an episode of “Nature” that explores the life and times of numerous amphibians, with a focus on mating habits, self-preservation, and feeding achievements, traveling around the globe to achieve a greater understanding of the subject. For Attenborough, nothing gives him greater joy than an opportunity to share his love for the frog with the viewer.

Frogs are complex creatures, with unique physical abilities and defense mechanisms that help them to stand out in the animal kingdom. Attenborough, pressed for time, doesn’t exhaustively sort through frog minutiae, keeping to the highlights of a few select subjects, celebrating distinctive routines and survival techniques. With the Strawberry Poison-Dart Frog, preserving its young is a struggle, requiring an arduous climb up a tree to keep tadpoles safe and soggy in the base of a bromeliad plant. Gliding Leaf Frogs use special webbing to extend their natural leap into flight. And the Darwin’s Frog uses its vocal sack to house its young, keeping them safe and close until it’s time for the wee ones to burst out of the mouth. “Fabulous Frog” also explores average life cycles, anatomy, and, as previously mentioned, mating rituals, devoting plenty of screentime to amphibian urges.

Nature: Fabulous Frogs Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation on "Fabulous Frogs" carries a distinct HD appearance, with changes in resolution arriving as old footage from previous Attenborough adventures are braided into this new special. This is a fresh, inviting viewing event, with generous sharpness that brings out the miniature details on the stars of the show, permitting a study of textures and assorted bodily features. Colors are rich and distinct, maintaining bright hues. Skintones on the host are equally natural. Some banding is detected. Blacks are crisp and complete.

Nature: Fabulous Frogs Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 Dolby Digital sound mix concentrates primarily on Attenborough's narration and on-camera appearance, with a crisp, clean listening experience that showcases his emotional connection to the subject. Surrounds push out scoring cues with a pleasing but mild circular feel, and naturalistic atmospherics are equally hushed but appreciated. Frog calls and activity are blended into the track with care, retaining distinction, while scoring efforts remain supportive, never stepping on the action.

Nature: Fabulous Frogs Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There is no supplementary material on this disc.

Nature: Fabulous Frogs Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Attenborough is a careful and attentive narrator, lending the special an air of regality as it showcases stunning macro cinematography and slo-mo to capture graceful and idiosyncratic behaviors. There's also a message of conservation worked into the show, with the host spotlighting efforts to rescue a few species from the edge of extinction, though, as he recalls with a heavy heart, many have been lost to environmental changes and the spread of a killer fungus. However, "Fabulous Frogs" isn't mournful, it's celebratory, trying to pack in as much information about the subject to help inspire curiosity, making frogs and their alien appearance accessible to all.