Planet Earth II - Islands has the difficult job to meet the high bar set by the incredible and stunning Planet Earth (2006). Not only it surpasses it's predecessor, it elevates and evolves the documentary genre of television to a whole another level. In roughly an hour, you are exposed to imagery that previously wasn't believed to be able to be caught on film whatsoever. I still do not understand how some of the shots the film crew captured were possible. With a little documentary at the end of the episode showing how insane and life threatening situations had the crew endure during the shoot, I cannot but wonder at the craft and care given to this documentary.
David Attenborough takes us around the world's most known, but also unknown islands to witness how the most interesting and rare breeds of animals live. It seamlessly blends small stories of said animals into a coherent narrative that urges you to observe how fragile balance is today's nature facing. Along with beautiful footage, you are presented with excellent structure, as if each animal had a script to follow. The narrative is just pitch perfect, the emotions are bursting from the screen and the beautiful soundtrack only elevates the strength of the material.
You will laugh, you will be close to tears, you will bite your nails throughout the action, you will collect your lower jaw from your carpet and by the end, you will be fully transported by the incredible adventure this documentary offers. Even if you do not care and never seen a documentary in your entire life, I suggest to give this one a go, because at times I thought I was watching a CGI scripted movie, and not a documentary that merely attempts to capture the reality. Perhaps it only means that this documentary finally succeeds on capturing that, which all the other documentaries about our planet desired to reach.
If you live on planet Earth, make sure you watch this. 10/10
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