Sunday at the movies in Roppongi Hills

Earth, a feature film version of the BBC documentary/mini-series Planet Earth, is really, really good, with some of the best footage I've ever seen of animals in their native habitats. Thankfully the narration (voiced by Patrick Stewart) is reasonably straightforward and spare (the cinematography carries the picture) and it's not overly preachy about global warming. I had already seen the clip of a shark swallowing a seal on YouTube, but to see it on the big screen as part of this movie was a real treat. (More extensive footage, taken from the original series, is definitely worth a look. I tried to embed the link but it wouldn't work, so click here and plug in the search term "Great White Sharks" and then click on the video uploaded by "dodgowan".) In Earth we also see a leopard run down a gazelle, and an entire pride of lions gang up on an elephant, but each time a predators move in for the kill the segment ends before there's any blood. So the movie, to its credit, while capturing the drama (and outcome) of these hunts, is reasonably child-friendly. Other highlights include mallard ducklings jumping out of a tree hollow and the birds of paradise puffing themselves up to attract a mate. Here's a shot of my guys outside the entrance to the theater (they are reflected in the glass).

In the theater's enormous lobby there is a giant billboard ad for a new thriller starring Anakin Skywalker. Water cascades down a glass wall behind the ad, I presume for dramatic effect:

Before the feature presentation begins, they show a short cartoon in Japanese with superheroes explaining the rules of the theater. No talking, no smoking, turn your cell phone off, and don't kick the chair in front of you. Sure enough nobody did any of these things. In fact, it's dead quiet throughout the film. Only our kids would break the silence from time to time ("Is the polar bear really going to attack that walrus??" and "What is that/What's he doing/Where's he going?")