"Hawaii" concludes the excellent series 'Earth's Tropical Islands', which sadly is deserving of more exposure and a wider audience at a time where BBC is dramatically losing viewers. Three episodes overall, the others exploring Madagascar and Borneo, and all three equally great. Hawaii as an island is as diverse, colourful and exotic (the most exotic of the three perhaps) as the other two, and there is good reason as to why it is such an immensely popular holiday and tourist destination.
This was a very fitting and great conclusion and does justice to "Hawaii". My personal favourite of the three episodes of 'Earth's Tropical Islands' is actually "Borneo", but when it comes to rating and opinions the three are pretty equal and extremely close together when ranking. "Hawaii" is not quite as diverse as "Borneo" but of the three locations it is a contender for the most exotic, and they are all about equal when it comes to colour, atmosphere and authenticity.
Like "Borneo", with a lot of information it did occasionally in the latter stages feel like there was a little too much content.
On the other hand, "Hawaii" again for the series wows visually. Especially when capturing those ever miraculous coral reefs with such rich colour (familiar territory in nature documentaries, but does that matter? No way). The tectonic plate is beautifully captured in the photography (fabulous throughout but especially here), amazing that that was filmed in such a vivid way. The music didn't strike me as melodramatic, too jaunty or intrusive.
While the writing for the narration didn't quite have the same surprise factor of other documentaries, it was still educational and was engagingly and accessibly written. Nothing was heavy-handed, corny or patronising. Personally had no problem with David Harewood's delivery of it, which to me engaged and was sincere.
As far as standout scenes go, the highlights were the immensely charming and amusing humpback whales sequence and the sporting contest. Manta rays doing somersaults was a lot of fun and not something you see everyday.
In summary, great conclusion to a fine series. 9/10
