Bugs! A Rainforest Adventure

I am surprised at the rating of "Bugs!! A Rainforest Adventure", as I found it to be a remarkable film, and keep it in my main library to show friends.This film highlights the extraordinary world of insects, Bugs! Photography is just incredible, and at its best when it focuses on the life cycles of a praying mantis and a butterfly from their birth to their inevitable demise in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia.The film covers more than 40 tropical insects are featured, captured in minute detail for the first time ever in 3D Large Format. This is just remarkable photography.You will see a caterpillar hatch from a single tiny egg to metamorphose into a butterfly, and watch as a praying mantis snaps up a fly for its dinner.I noticed a few reviews complain this is not for children. I would just say this movie was made as a documentary...not a children's film. It shows actually life cycles of animals and that may not be what a mom or dad wants their children to see.Don't miss this one...it truly is remarkable!

Our entire family enjoyed this movie! The music is upbeat and dramatic at times. The scenary is of a lush wet rain forest. The narration by Judi Dench is superb! The information is fascinating and the entire BUGS adventure left a lasting impression on us. (observe & respect their life cycle) In this film, you will experience and witness the incredible life and survival of many different types of bugs. For example, 2 male rhino beetles battling for the affection of an awaiting female, witness hundreds of praying mantis hatching from one small egg, or watch the complete metamorphisis of a caterpillar to name a few scenes. My 4 year old son began to mimick the bug's trail imprints left in the sand. He stood up and danced to the music while imprinting his own tracks in the carpet. On another note: if you are sensitve or a bit squirmish, you might have a hard time watching a few gory scenes- bugs eating other bugs! I had to turn away a couple of times but my little boy thought it was funny and even reinacted some of the scenes in the movie by using a few of his own rubber bugs.

While this film is beautiful and informative, the storyline is, to quote my 7 year old, "Lame!!" Both my 5 and 7 year old, who love insect and bug movies/documentaries and haven't had trouble in the past when insects die, ended this movie weeping and angry. The story follows a butterfly and a praying mantis from birth to maturity, calling them by name and going through all of the dangers and developments they face. After all of it, they choose to end it with the mantis eating the butterfly. The butterfly wings float down together and land in the stream and float off. Artistic it was. Maybe that's nice for adults, but I would have liked a little warning before watching it with my kids.

It has been nicely prepared. Images are wonderful. However, once you watch  Microcosmos  and  Life in the Undergrowth  Bugs! can only be classified as "honorable mention" or even lower. The picture quality and quality of work is probably perfect but end result is not enough for fascinating the viewers -seen the competition. In my opinion, the purpose of the film was not clear neither (was it: filming the insects as close as possible without any filming patterns or telling a story of a butterfly?). So, I give 3-stars only for the efforts and meticoulous film production.

Love the magnified feature of the variety of rain forest insects. Judy Dench narrates and may be a little hard for my students to understand at times. For some reason the audio isn’t as loud as most dvds.

Our whole family, my girls(2 and 3yrs), my wife and I love it, didn't expect to enjoy it this much. Wish we could see it in the original 3-D. It is obvious that they put a lot of effort into this, details. details details, all blown up to see up close. Makes you want to got to your own back yard to see what is living in the weeds. The extras are full of even more cool footage and stories. Buy it, otherwise, it's going to bug you!

I purchased this movie for my 4th graders to watch during our unit on insects. It held the attention of my typically rambunctious group of students. The footage is beautiful. **Spoiler Alert** The praying mantis eats the butterfly. This may be quite traumatic for some children, but my 4th graders were perfectly fine afterward and required no counseling services as a result.

I first rented this dvd and was so delighted that I decided to buy it so I could view it as often as I wished. Very educational, but in a format that all ages can enjoy. It is about the right length to keep children interested to the end. Hopefully there will be more like it made and hopefully Judi Dench will narrate them. Totally delighted.

This was a gift for a student of mine who is obsessed with bugs. He really enjoyed the movie, and made the class watch clips of it during indoor recess several times.