Our Planet is revolutionary in the way it subverts the genre of big-budget nature documentaries

The New York Times

"Mute the narration, and you could be watching the same screensaver art pageantry of a dozen past nature series," says James Poniewozik of the 10-part Netflix climate change documentary series. "But the form of the episodes introduces this program’s mission. Each installment is about the web of life in a place — how the food chain that sustains a Siberian tiger begins with pine cones on a forest floor, how life in a river depends on steam rising from trees hundreds of miles away. Disrupt one part — raise the temperature, plant crops in a rain forest — and you disrupt them all." Poniewozik adds: "It’s something I can hardly recall seeing in any TV wildlife spectacle: images used not just for the emotional gee-whiz factor but for dry commentary and damning visual irony. And it all builds to a series-ending sequence — I’m not used to saying 'spoiler alert' for nature films, but I feel I should here — that I suspect will haunt me for a long time."

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