Movie review: 'Arctic Tale' warms the heart

"Arctic Tale" inhabits the gray area between nature documentary and fictionalized wilderness adventure, not that the distinction will mean much to the young audiences it was made for. Creatively edited from 15 years' worth of footage shot near the North Pole, it follows a walrus calf and a polar bear cub to illustrate the perils of their life cycle and the new hardships posed by melting, shrinking icecaps.

Written by Al Gore's daughter Kristina and invitingly narrated by Queen Latifah, it's a cautionary tale about global warming wrapped in a kid-friendly story from the production team that brought us "March of the Penguins" and National Geographic Films.

Nanu the polar bear and Seela the walrus are composite characters. Following in the tradition of Disney wildlife movies of the 1950s, selective editing presents the creatures on best behavior (showing how walruses devour seals would traumatize the little ones), but grant the filmmakers their dramatic license. The animals are too cute for words as they romp, tumble and belly flop through their youth, and the film is educational without getting lecture-y.

Seela is brought up communally by her herd (the soundtrack's "We Are Family" underscores the point), but her first act out of the womb is to rub her mother's face with her sensitive whiskers, memorizing it just as a blind person would do with fingertips. Nanu and her brother and mom live a more solitary existence, and their most fearsome predator isn't a rival species but male polar bears.

There are suspenseful moments when the families encounter danger, sad passages and a smattering of low comedy: Walruses are evidently flatulent creatures, and the sound of the whole blubbery pack letting it rip while sunning themselves is guaranteed to be the funniest thing your 6-year-old has ever heard. For slightly older audiences, there's the sly observation that Seela's tusks are filling out nicely and the boy seals are taking notice.

The film contains plenty to hold an adult's attention, too, with starkly beautiful, risky-looking footage shot inside the bears' ice cave and in the midst of swimming walrus packs. Its message that life is getting more challenging for arctic creatures is presented plainly and without preaching. We are shown that icecaps are shrinking, once-frozen floes are defrosting to the point that they won't support a full-grown bear's body weight, and icebergs where walruses could rest while migrating long distances are disappearing.

The film concludes with household tips for combating global warming, which might not have much effect in themselves, but offer a starting point for discussions about the issue. Whether you're more attuned to adorable animals or environmental issues, "Arctic Tale" is pretty cool.

Colin Covert • 612-673-7186

Colin Covert • ccovert@startribune.com