petesea A bunch of this footage is "amazing" - I would have preferred if the filmmakers had stuck to the true to nature stuff and not taken the "cast" to the Statue of Liberty, Paris, etc.This is an amazing "story" of the journeys, hazards and adventures of some beautiful creatures. There are a few quite shocking moments - but they are explainable to young viewers.What kind of "documentary" edits shots to make them more interesting? For me, this is the film's major flaw and is downright unconscionable. Cut out 20 minutes or so of this tomfoolery and fakery and this would be a "10" – easy!

Rodan Thompson Just saw this on Animal Planet.... Not many films I'll sit through start to finish on commercial television. This one was so worth the aggravation of a commercial break or two.Simply amazing. Had to research the director to find out how he managed such magnificent camera work. Methods were surprising. But it all served to great ends. The film is so moving and inspiring. I found myself wanting to join Green Peace or the Audubon Society afterward.Any film that brings man closer to nature to appreciate the world around us all is a magnificent feat indeed. If more people demanded this kind of entertainment the world would be a better place.This film is now one of my top 10 favorites of all time.RECOMMENDED HIGHLY

bob the moo Following migratory flight paths for different types of birds across the world, this film is an impressive piece of documentary making that is relaxing and easy to watch even if it is not particularly educational. Personally nature films are not really my thing and, although I can appreciate the beauty and wonder of nature, I prefer them when they are not only showing me something but also really helping me learn and understand what I am seeing. To that end then, Winged Migration wasn't all I would have liked it to be because the focus here was the showing rather than the telling or explaining.Of course this is really a minor complaint based on my own preference rather than a valid criticism of the film because otherwise the film engages simply by how impressive the footage is. Technically I have no idea how they shot most of the stuff they did but I do know that it must be a significant challenge. The work has paid off though because the film looks great and has amazingly beautiful shots that are worth watching the film just to see. I do want to apply the criticism of visuals without substance to this film in the same way I would to a blockbuster that relies on effects to keep me watching but somehow this film also manages to have enough substance to it despite the thankfully limited use of the narrator. Admittedly it does this by playing on the human emotions of the viewer rather than sticking true to nature but it is hard to think of a single scene that will convince you shooting birds is wrong than the one where a beautiful sweeping shot sees the birds suddenly drop, flapping to the ground far below.With such reliance on images and footage though I can understand why some viewers get bored because they are waiting for "something" to happen. Of course "something" happens but it is not the "something" that viewers accustom to a traditional narrative will easily take to. Worth seeing in my opinion for the sheer visual and technical splendidness of the presentation which will be more than enough to engage those who enjoy nature documentaries.

tom_75252 4 stars for nice visuals, but there is no more content than just the visuals.There are two scenes in the film: (1) Birds flying in the air, and (2) Birds being on the ground. Some of the scenes are cute, but you'd see the same stuff on a TV series like "America's Funniest Animals".It does have some very beautiful scenes of the birds flying, but the filming technique got old for me after half an hour.I don't even know why they included birds in this film. This film was basically about the remote-controlled miniature helicopter that captured all the beautiful shots of our planet.The narrator says about 10 lines in this movie. And after this documentary was over, I asked myself, "Does this narrator even know anything about birds or did he just want to show off his nifty remote-controlled miniature helicopter???" I think he didn't know much about birds. He only says one sentence every ten minutes, and it's something like "This is the bald eagle, it flies from point A to point B." Thanks for the information, Mr. Boring Narrator. I would have scored this higher if it actually had some interesting information about the birds, but the narrator didn't seem to have any at all.The only saving grace for this movie, in my opinion, would be if they handed over the filmwork to someone who knows about birds, and then have them narrate it. Then re-release it.My dictionary has this definition for documentary: "A work, such as a film or television program, presenting political, social, or historical subject matter in a factual and informative manner and often consisting of actual news films or interviews accompanied by narration." This movie falls well short in the "informative" area.