"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."

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 3, 2016

This anthropomorphic Disneyfication -- presumably intended to give youngsters something to relate to -- is made worse by the film's elementary dialogue and Queen Latifah's crass 'n' brash delivery.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2011

It doesn't take a cynic to wonder if editing trickery has been deployed to clarify or simply fabricate these events.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Oct 18, 2008

Partnering its ursine heroine's progress with that of a female walrus calf, Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson's documentary combines stunning wildlife footage with an environmental message.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 12, 2008

Targeted at pre-schoolers yet with scant educational value, Arctic Tale is best seen by no-one.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Feb 8, 2008

If it's sometimes a little too pat, a little too cute, bear in mind that this film's target audience is the post-Barney, pre-Bratz set and not John James Audubon.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 25, 2007

A well-intentioned film that isn't a documentary and isn't a very good adventure story.

Full Review | Aug 20, 2007

The heavy-handed ideology and flawed narration don't commend Arctic Tale as a movie I would care to watch repeatedly, but I'm glad I saw it once, for the spectacular photography.

| Original Score: B- | Aug 17, 2007

Make no mistake, Arctic Tale is a stunning film, full of all the astonishing, even breathtaking nature photography we've come to expect from the folks at National Geographic.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 17, 2007

It's aimed at kids, and it hits them squarely: My 6-year-old and his friend sat stock still, hypnotized.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 17, 2007

Arctic Tale does afford us some beautiful landscape cinematography and up-close looks at creatures in the wild...

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 17, 2007

There's no Jane Goodall required. And the absence of humans proves we needn't be onscreen to make our presence known.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 17, 2007

The point is made: life, as the wondrous animals of our very far north know it, is severely endangered. And that can only spell disaster for the inhabitants of lands farther south.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 3, 2007

Though the journey is a little bumpy, it's still a trip well worth taking, for all ages.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 3, 2007

Despite the storytelling faults, Ravetch and Robertson offer remarkable footage from the evaporating Arctic.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 3, 2007

Despite its sad scenes, it sentimentalizes. It attributes human emotions and motivations to its central animals. Its music instructs us how to feel. And the narration and overall approach get in the way of the visual material.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 3, 2007

Watching these endangered species evolve new approaches to hunting and shelter is fascinating, but the movie is seriously marred by a cloying screenplay and such kid-pleasing touches as shots of walruses belching and farting.

| Aug 3, 2007

The babies are adorable, the soundtrack choices ('We Are Family') obvious, the biological diversity awe-inspiring.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 3, 2007

Nevertheless, Arctic Tale is a kid-friendly, non-preachy window on the north as a place of wonder and a harbinger of change -- and I'll take Queen Latifah's warm voice over Al Gore's drone any day.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 3, 2007

Watching bear cubs and walrus pups struggling to survive against increasingly tough odds, and on ever-slushier ice shelves, has both its shamelessly manipulative side and its dramatically necessary side, as handled here.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 2, 2007