I have watched every episode of this TV series and was always compelled to watch the next show and, for the most, found it very enjoyable.
Photography here is as beautiful as any natural world documentary seen on the BBC and John Boyega does a great job of narrating the show and brings a passion to the writing but that's where this show falls down. The narrative is that of a story of a family of several different species and is pure fiction to fit the shots captured. If you are keen eyed you will even notice that the animals which they use a certain name for will suddenly have some differences (such as a zebra's stripes) and is blatantly a different animal.
I love nature and wildlife and the photography pleased me but I felt patronised, it is bordering on mockumentary. Give me Sir David Attenborough with his factual explanations over this any day.
102 Reviews
Bad reviews, What's the problem !!
tony_rothery20 July 2019
Serengeti is a refreshing wildlife series that has been dramatised, and to be fair to the BBC it does warn you of this at the start of each episode, like others I was expecting usual run of mill wildlife filming, but I was pleasantly surprised, it is superb in the way they have captured the Serengeti life, the dramatisation adds suspense and interest, the new filming techniques are outstanding and individual characters caught perfectly, you can forgive the use of different animals portraying a character, it's a thumbs up from me and to those who dislike, then get your walking boots on and find your own wildlife.
Wow!
ReZetamama12 August 2019
Stunning
ph-1523220 August 2019
Stunning footage..to the point on our newer 4k it almost looks unreal. As far as the bad reviews due to "humanizing" the animals and saying "animals don't have human feelings," I say how dare you! If you believe that animals do not feel, love fear, sadness, loss, etc then you are part of the problem in the world's abuse, neglect and exploitation of animals. The production crew Im sure spent a considerable amount of time with these animals, witnessing their everyday triumphs, failures, and hearbreaks. I find giving a voice to the animals..telling us a story from their view..was a beautiful touch to the unbelievable footage.
Love thin show!!
tklane121 August 2019
Amazing Cinematography
lonniecowlings5 August 2019
I don't think I've seen anything quite like this. I went to Kenya years ago on a safari. That memory pales in comparison to this show. The close ups of the animals make it seem like the cameras are right next to them. I'm definitely gonna keep watching.
Amazing footage, but..
stevenaaus27 February 2021
Amazing footage, but the commentary is just total pap, seriously underminng the experience. Really, people, do you need some hollywood smaltz to appreciate the amazing cauldron of African wildlife. Who was the overpaid braindead producer who wrecked this series ??
Thoroughly enjoyable
willskinner-398678 August 2019
Granted the narrator's voice is a bit annoying but the footage is incredible and the storylines make it really interesting which give it that extra edge over your standard nature doc. For all those that have given this a very low underserved rating - have a word with yourself.
I DON'T TRUST IT
steve-667-1019020 January 2020
What is your problem?
tonyalto-4154821 July 2019
I found this series refreshingly different from other wildlife series, and I think it's unfair to keep making comparisons to David Attenborough.
The camera work is really good this series brings a different perspective on social life of the animals featured
Snoop where are you?
winters-neal6 August 2019
Hollywood-ized
poseye28 November 2019
This footage could be interesting if the narration did not try to make the series a drama. The videos of seemingly the same animals are clearly completely different locations and animals that are passed as one climactic scene. Particularly, the "same" young zebra has different patterns throughout one scene. It is obvious the videos are patched to fit the scenario and the constant overdramatic narrative that is completely emotionally drawn brings no educational experience. Also, the actual events are censored, as any fatality is blacked out as the screen then shows a dead body of the aftermath. Documentaries of these animals is supposed to be raw. Are some events violent? Yes because that is how nature works. Stop trying to twist what actually happens to appeal to viewers interest.
Don't listen to the bad reviews
snippitygirl12 July 2019
Interesting
cherrychocchip13 July 2019
I'm really enjoying this and although some reviewers are not enjoying the storyline type part I actually think it adds a slightly different twist to other animal documentaries. I am a huge David Attenborough fan and you will never beat his programmes but it's more facts and figures which is what makes Serengeti slightly different. The only thing I'm not too keen on is the music they use.
Great first episode
diggity06075 August 2019
Great photography; shame about the narration
markfranh26 September 2021
My subject line really covers it.
The photography is absolutely exceptional and the editing of the material they had to put together sequences just wonderful. Easily the best I've ever seen.
It's just a shame that our tv doesn't come with an option to shut the narrator up and just listen to the animals and perhaps the background music. The fake stories and fake animal names just totally spoiled it for us. We tried watching with the sound on, and cringed at the words. We tried with the sound off and felt we were missing not hearing the animal noises.
So a 10 for the visuals on this series and a 4 for the stupid decision to run with made up stories that were totally unnecessary and almost ruined it for us.
The photography is absolutely exceptional and the editing of the material they had to put together sequences just wonderful. Easily the best I've ever seen.
It's just a shame that our tv doesn't come with an option to shut the narrator up and just listen to the animals and perhaps the background music. The fake stories and fake animal names just totally spoiled it for us. We tried watching with the sound on, and cringed at the words. We tried with the sound off and felt we were missing not hearing the animal noises.
So a 10 for the visuals on this series and a 4 for the stupid decision to run with made up stories that were totally unnecessary and almost ruined it for us.
Outstanding
smxp5 August 2019
Ignore the bad reviewers who can't see animals having complex lives. Anyone with domestic animals know they have emotions and feelings. Wild animals are no different. The reviewer who said the photography was bad and blurry - you need glasses or a new TV. The photography is astounding.
Brilliant.
cassiopeia3620 September 2019
Great photography
kbfoster20 August 2019
The overall quality of the series is good with excellent photography and narration. The vocal music is not that great and rather distracting. My biggest complaint is the doctored animal sounds. Cheetah cubs don't meow and big cats don't growl while hunting. The fake sounds linked to some of the animals is a big fail as far as I'm concerned and distract from the story. I know that this isn't a documentary but accuracy should be maintained.
Real life version of Land Before Time
Kaygee90627 August 2019
It's like a real life narrated version of Land Before Time. The way that the story is told by Lupita makes it more interesting. I find that when each episode ends, I can't wait for the next week's episode to air because the story provides suspense.... is the family going to be broken apart or re-united? Is this animal going to eat that animal? Who knows?! Also, visually, this show is just stunning & I don't care if the relationships are exaggerated or whatever, it's still interesting to watch. I think Serengeti is an awesome show for all ages. It might sound crazy, but even my dog watches the show. I give it a 10/10.
Beautiful oddity
TheLittleSongbird22 June 2020
Am a big fan of documentaries (whether feature length films or series), especially nature documentaries. Of which David Attenborough is pretty much imcomporable in, always was and still is. That is not to say that everything else nature documentary-else is inferior, there are some fantastic documentaries that he had nothing to do with and stand brilliantly in their own right. Despite the very mixed reviews, my love for the genre made me want to see 'Serengeti'.
'Serengeti' has its fair share of great things and is in quite a lot of ways beautiful. It is gorgeously filmed. It overall looks spectacular. Actually liked the human approach to the portrayal of the animals, and found many of them and wide range of emotions (yes they absolutely do have emotions, how can anybody say otherwise) relatable. There are some fantastic scenes, namely in the last two episodes. 'Serengeti' is also a bit of an odd one. Really do have to agree with those heavily criticising the music and narration, which drag the series down quite badly and they are never really addressed. Also found it rather too safe and too younger audience-oriented.
It is a series that starts off rocky, with two watchable but rather average episodes that epitomise what is good and bad about 'Serengeti'. From then on it marginally improves, then once again dips and then it gets much better in the last two episodes. "Exodus" being for me by far the best episode of 'Serengeti'.
Will start with the good things of 'Serengeti'. Have very little to complain about with the production values. The filming is gorgeous and to me it wasn't overly-bright or garish. "Conflict" makes spectacular use of the sunlight, and "Destiny" has the enchanting sight of a leopard leaping down from a tree. The scenery really takes the breath away, suitably varied and suitably unforgiving when needed. The animals look great and as said it is very easy to relate to them, especially the younger ones, really did care for what happened to them. Will never forget the forlorn expressions of the cubs when they lose their mother in "Rebirth".
Furthermore, there are some engaging conflicts, the adversity that the lionnesses and elephants face in "Destiny", the lion and leopard sequence in "Invasion" (one of the series' highlights) and that of the zebra foal and crocodile stand out. As well as some cute ones, like the amusing but not dumbed down porcupine scene in "Exodus". As said, there are a fair share of fantastic scenes scattered throughout. Not just the already mentioned ones, but scenes like the cubs being taught to hunt in "Rebirth" but two of the series' best moments come from "Exodus", the stuck in the mud sequence and the bush fire scene which are the only properly uncompromising sequences.
Sadly, 'Serengeti' has some significant drawbacks that make it a quite strange series. The two biggest problems being the music and narration, two big problems enough to almost completely spoil the series. The music is far too loud and used too much, very over-dramatic and heavy-handed, like it was trying to imitate contemporary Disney and never fits with what is going on. The narration is flawed in both writing and delivery. Some of the lines in "Destiny" and "Conflict" particularly made me cringe, lines from fortune cookies are better written and far less hokey, it can be very preachy (a problem in "Misfortune" too) and nothing really illuminates and allows one to learn much. Familiar material gone stale and over-dramatised. If the delivery was good it may have been more tolerable, but John Boyega's delivery accentuates further these weaknesses. He sounds utterly bored in all the episodes, especially in the first two, and when there is any dramatising it is as subtle as a sledgehammer.
Did think that the target audience was somewhat confused. Did appreciate that 'Serengeti' tried to appeal to the whole family, but it too often felt like it was aiming more for the younger audience. Playing it very safe a lot of the time and going too far on the simplicity. Only in "Exodus" and "Rebirth" are there signs of any proper risk-taking, and where there is the "shocked that this was even filmed" vibe seen in the best documentaries. Especially the former, which was also the least over-dramatised oddly enough. Some of the editing is not great, not always having cohesion and being repetitive. Especially in "Invasion", where it felt like a series of scenes randomly ordered.
Concluding, many beautiful things but too many oddities to consider it great. Something of a slightly above average missed opportunity. 6/10
'Serengeti' has its fair share of great things and is in quite a lot of ways beautiful. It is gorgeously filmed. It overall looks spectacular. Actually liked the human approach to the portrayal of the animals, and found many of them and wide range of emotions (yes they absolutely do have emotions, how can anybody say otherwise) relatable. There are some fantastic scenes, namely in the last two episodes. 'Serengeti' is also a bit of an odd one. Really do have to agree with those heavily criticising the music and narration, which drag the series down quite badly and they are never really addressed. Also found it rather too safe and too younger audience-oriented.
It is a series that starts off rocky, with two watchable but rather average episodes that epitomise what is good and bad about 'Serengeti'. From then on it marginally improves, then once again dips and then it gets much better in the last two episodes. "Exodus" being for me by far the best episode of 'Serengeti'.
Will start with the good things of 'Serengeti'. Have very little to complain about with the production values. The filming is gorgeous and to me it wasn't overly-bright or garish. "Conflict" makes spectacular use of the sunlight, and "Destiny" has the enchanting sight of a leopard leaping down from a tree. The scenery really takes the breath away, suitably varied and suitably unforgiving when needed. The animals look great and as said it is very easy to relate to them, especially the younger ones, really did care for what happened to them. Will never forget the forlorn expressions of the cubs when they lose their mother in "Rebirth".
Furthermore, there are some engaging conflicts, the adversity that the lionnesses and elephants face in "Destiny", the lion and leopard sequence in "Invasion" (one of the series' highlights) and that of the zebra foal and crocodile stand out. As well as some cute ones, like the amusing but not dumbed down porcupine scene in "Exodus". As said, there are a fair share of fantastic scenes scattered throughout. Not just the already mentioned ones, but scenes like the cubs being taught to hunt in "Rebirth" but two of the series' best moments come from "Exodus", the stuck in the mud sequence and the bush fire scene which are the only properly uncompromising sequences.
Sadly, 'Serengeti' has some significant drawbacks that make it a quite strange series. The two biggest problems being the music and narration, two big problems enough to almost completely spoil the series. The music is far too loud and used too much, very over-dramatic and heavy-handed, like it was trying to imitate contemporary Disney and never fits with what is going on. The narration is flawed in both writing and delivery. Some of the lines in "Destiny" and "Conflict" particularly made me cringe, lines from fortune cookies are better written and far less hokey, it can be very preachy (a problem in "Misfortune" too) and nothing really illuminates and allows one to learn much. Familiar material gone stale and over-dramatised. If the delivery was good it may have been more tolerable, but John Boyega's delivery accentuates further these weaknesses. He sounds utterly bored in all the episodes, especially in the first two, and when there is any dramatising it is as subtle as a sledgehammer.
Did think that the target audience was somewhat confused. Did appreciate that 'Serengeti' tried to appeal to the whole family, but it too often felt like it was aiming more for the younger audience. Playing it very safe a lot of the time and going too far on the simplicity. Only in "Exodus" and "Rebirth" are there signs of any proper risk-taking, and where there is the "shocked that this was even filmed" vibe seen in the best documentaries. Especially the former, which was also the least over-dramatised oddly enough. Some of the editing is not great, not always having cohesion and being repetitive. Especially in "Invasion", where it felt like a series of scenes randomly ordered.
Concluding, many beautiful things but too many oddities to consider it great. Something of a slightly above average missed opportunity. 6/10
great stories with heavily edited footage
locutas3 December 2019
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
