"Nature's Half Acre" is the third installment of Disney's True Life Adventure nature films. They were very popular back in the day and even today they hold up quite well in most cases.
The film is supposedly set in some half acre plot...in order to show the amazing diversity of animal life there. My assumption is that many acres were actually used for the film....which isn't a major deal. But chameleons (featured in this film) don't live around Robins, Orioles and other animals often shown in the movie. After all, 100% realism isn't Disney's goal with these pictures...entertainment is first and foremost the point of the films. And, in the course of the picture, you see mostly tiny animals....which are often overlooked by people. Bugs, birds and tiny animals are the subjects of this film as well as some types of plants...particularly flowering and carnivorous ones.
In many ways, the film is like a nature ballet....with the actions of the plants and animals set to music. I was surprised that I actually liked the way this was done....and Disney really took great care to coordinate the music and film footage. Lovely to look at and filled with artistry...though something I am glad they didn't do too often in other films.
Overall, a lovely and well made film....possibly among the very best of Disney's nature films.
It's unfortunate that many of the older Disney True Life Adventure films posted to Disney+ have prints which are less than perfect. I cannot blame Disney....it looks like they tried to clean up the prints, but sometimes the animals in these films are a bit blurry or faded or too dark....as they sometimes are in "Nature's Half Acre". I mention this because the films were state of the art back in the 1950s....but today they've lost a bit due to film degradation.
The film is supposedly set in some half acre plot...in order to show the amazing diversity of animal life there. My assumption is that many acres were actually used for the film....which isn't a major deal. But chameleons (featured in this film) don't live around Robins, Orioles and other animals often shown in the movie. After all, 100% realism isn't Disney's goal with these pictures...entertainment is first and foremost the point of the films. And, in the course of the picture, you see mostly tiny animals....which are often overlooked by people. Bugs, birds and tiny animals are the subjects of this film as well as some types of plants...particularly flowering and carnivorous ones.
In many ways, the film is like a nature ballet....with the actions of the plants and animals set to music. I was surprised that I actually liked the way this was done....and Disney really took great care to coordinate the music and film footage. Lovely to look at and filled with artistry...though something I am glad they didn't do too often in other films.
Overall, a lovely and well made film....possibly among the very best of Disney's nature films.
It's unfortunate that many of the older Disney True Life Adventure films posted to Disney+ have prints which are less than perfect. I cannot blame Disney....it looks like they tried to clean up the prints, but sometimes the animals in these films are a bit blurry or faded or too dark....as they sometimes are in "Nature's Half Acre". I mention this because the films were state of the art back in the 1950s....but today they've lost a bit due to film degradation.