Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Although first glance reveals little more than stones and sand, the desert is alive. Witness moving rocks, spitting mud pots, gorgeous flowers and the never-ending battle for survival between desert creatures of every shape, size and description.
Walt Disney's first True-Life Adventure feature is a landmark in nature documentary filmmaking. The cinematography is genuinely exceptional — patient, intimate macro and telephoto work capturing desert life in ways rarely seen at the time. Novelty is very high: this was a pioneering achievement that essentially invented the theatrical nature documentary genre, with its whimsical editing and anthropomorphized narration being wholly distinctive. Plot is rated charitably as a loose survival-of-the-fittest narrative arc that gives the film some structure. Acting is irrelevant for a documentary and rated 1 accordingly. The ending is somewhat abrupt and unresolved, trailing off rather than delivering a satisfying conclusion.