Fine videography, obvious captive specimens, bad science

On the plus side, there's a lot of excellent close-up and macro videography to be seen in this film, but the negatives outweigh the positives for me.

The underwater close-ups are obviously done in a tank, the plastic plants are a clear giveaway. Shots of animals feeding on crickets are also obvious set-ups in an aquarium/terrarium, as the crickets aren't a species native to the US, they're the kind you buy in a pet store for feeding things that need live food.

The segment on the breeding toads incorrectly identifies pieces of sloughed toad skin as eggs, an absolutely abysmal error.

And I too find the young girl (the film maker's daughter) who narrates the film to be a poor choice. She does as competent a job as can be expected by a young child, but I prefer a narrator who actually knows about the subject they're commenting on.

Overall, this strikes me as a very poorly researched film. There are other "facts" presented that are questionable, at best.

Also the significant amounts of footage on Fire Ants seems totally out of place to me, and given the fact that the videographer was also working on a film about Fire Ants makes me suspect that he decided to use footage from his Fire Ant film as filler in this one. The ant footage doesn't fit in at all, as the rest of the film is concerned with native, aquatic life forms.

Overall, other than the videography, this film is quite annoying.

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

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The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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