WATCH THE TRAILER

PREMIERE'S REVIEW (posted 7/27/07)

You can't keep a good polar bear down. Or can you? Artic Tale sets out to show that human indifference to the climate has damaged the Arctic wonderland that fuzzy-wuzzy polar bears and slippery, sassy walrus pups call home.

Directed squarely at the after-school special crowd, the documentary features Queen Latifah tossing out street-savvy (but kid-friendly) bon mots to describe how walruses get "all up in each others' business" when lounging on a frozen beach and that an irresistible game of "pull my flipper" ensues after a good clam meal.

It's a playful study of Arctic life, starring a polar bear cub, its prey, and a tagalong fox — with the inevitable dramatic moments when bear meets walrus.

Arctic Tale, with its not perfect but still awe-inspiring cinematography, has an impressive pedigree: directed by the husband-and-wife team of wildlife filmmakers Ravetch and Robertson and written by Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast), non-fiction film writer Mose Richards (Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure), and Kristin Gore, following the environmental-awareness route paved by her father, An Inconvenient Truth star and former Vice President Al Gore. The filmmakers thread the environmentalist message throughout, but kick it into high gear over the credits with elementary school kids providing advice on saving the planet.

If you don't know what a narwhal is — and no, it's not a Harry Potter beasty — you'll find out in this National Geographic Films production.

— Deborah Day