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While overall this presentation is intended as an alternative perspective from traditional archeology - when the presenter, Alastair Sooke, pitched headlong into a rant on Akhenaten's statues' portrayal of elongated facial proportions, narrow chest, & wide/round hips being a sign of the rulers' megalomania, I truly wanted to turn the whole thing OFF. Heaven forbid anyone would research the current theories on 'why' the statue is that way could have been a genetic condition (...um, hello? Those people married their actual siblings... hmm?) - I've read Marfan's Syndrome, or Fröhlich's syndrome proposed as the most logical cause... but, yeah - let's totally MOCK someone's body type because it's not just like YOU think it should be (oh, don't get me started on his conceptualization on Nefertiti's 'taught skin/neck' - it's a STATUE!!). The 'host' ends up sounding more like a spoiled teenager than a professional authority on any information of value.

Overall, some lovely images of statues I'd never seen before - but I won't be referencing ANY details from this presentation as facts.

I'm basically older than rust - and my idea of holiday 'specials' is limited to the classics: 'Rudolph', 'Charlie Brown'... those modern cartoons that came out in the 80's were beyond lame, so I was somewhat suspicious of this when I first came across it.

Now that I've watched it twice (and will probably watch it again soon), I have to say, WELL DONE!! Modern, familiar characters - portrayed in true-to-character form - and presented in a short, family friendly format. HOORAY!! Family entertainment, happy ending - and lots of laughs for adults too!

So, added to my once yearly viewing with the aforementioned will be Scrat in his eternal hunt for the ultimate acorn.... and all the other 'Ice Age' alumni!

Sometimes when a movie is first promoted, you see LOTS about it - and then when it opens, there's either tons of press (for all the right/wrong reasons), or it just fades into oblivion....

I'm one of those people that assumes a movie fades away because it deserves to be ignored - I wondered about 'In Time' when it was first promoted, but then didn't hear anything about it after it opened..... so, I kinda' started to watch it with that 'what's-wrong-with-this-movie' feeling.... then was pleasantly surprised by above average storytelling, & an interesting plot with believable characters! I'm not a JT fan (ok, except for SNL.... oh, and with Fallon too), so I wasn't expecting his portrayal to be as likable as it was....

I'm a SciFi fan from back when we read it in books (yeah, THAT far back) - and I just loved the visual touches throughout this film that defined it as a different time and place, but with familiarities that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up to realize, 'yep, that could be us in the very near future'....also - I was VERY pleased that I think I only heard one f-bomb in the whole movie - I can let my 76-yr-old Mother watch this now!!

While visually stunning and powerfully underscored - this film flounders... dreadfully.

I feel the storytelling method could have had more impact WITHOUT the mumbo jumbo and mystical elements....definitely NOT a movie for anyone with even slightly less than perfect hearing for all the whispering and background conversations (really wish it had subtitles!).

Somebody make another edit - about 30 minutes less in length and stick to the story, skip the mystical crap that really doesn't relate to anything (or at least I couldn't figure out what it related to??!!)

AAAAAND evidently writing succinctly and to the point about your subject disqualifies ones' review from publication... so here, I have to add several lines about nothing in particular in order for my opinion to actually 'count'.... go figure - either this system is administrated by a former government official, or a man....