Earth, trailer

Intended to be inspirational and awe-inspiring rather than raise worrisome environmental concerns, Disney’s epic Earth is positioned as March of the Penguins minus all the Inconvenient Truth. The dramatized story of 3 wildlife families spans 42 countries, and took 5 years to shoot over 2000 hours of film in the field (so brace yourself for the director’s cut). Due to be released on April 22 (Earth Day), the timing is auspicious in another way too. With a DVD release just in time for the holidays, Blu-ray discs sent out instead of traditional single-layer screeners will made every other documentary this year look like dirt. Except, in order to vote for it, Academy members will still have to see Earth in a theater. As if that ever enhances the chances that the best documentaries will win — or even be nominated.