L B

I really wanted to enjoy this, I tried, but I couldn’t get through the first episode. The attempts at humor in giving voice to the animals are meant to make them relatable, but it fails embarrassingly. It’s not the type of show that is so bad it is amusing, like groaning at a bad pun; rather, it is so bad it is painful. I think part of the disappointment is knowing there were many, many writers trying to come up with dialogue for these animals in an attempt to make them seem “more like us,” but the end results run from bland to awful, and the animals were so much more amusing on their own. In fact, often part of the beauty of animals is how unlike us they are! I might try watching this series on mute, to enjoy the natural scenery and the antics of the animals without the painfully unfunny scripted jokes and the unfortunate use of the great Dame Helen Mirren. But I probably instead will watch another great Attenborough documentary instead.