A documentary narrated by Queen Latifah. Rated general.

Married codirectors Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson spent six chilly years following various animals through harrowing seasonal changes, with special focus on a newborn polar bear called Nanu and a baby walrus dubbed Seela. If the anthropomorphism is relentless, as animal communities are mined for their most recognizably human characteristics, this isn't hard to do given the outsize personalities of the main subjects. Deaths add a tragic dimension, although there's more emphasis on in-the-wild comedy; when everything else fails, there are always walrus farts for easy giggles.

Alfresco carnality is notably absent perhaps the only reason our filmmakers skip "You Sexy Thing" on soundtrack while they manage to slip in "Celebration" and "We Are Family" within a 10-minute segment. Elsewhere, there are crowd-pleasing tunes from Cat Stevens, Aimee Mann and Zach Gill, and the Shins to underscore some truly gorgeous, blue-tinged cinematography, while Joby Talbot's lush orchestral music sticks to Disneyesque pomposity. Queen Latifah proves an amiably authoritative narrator, and is allowed more personalized locutions than most script readers; Morgan Freeman never told his marching penguins that they "best be goin'". (Narration cowriter Kristin Gore, daughter of Al and Tipper, is the only connection with Paramount Vantage's previous documentary hit, An Inconvenient Truth.)

Editing may be this National Geographic blessed Tale's sharpest achievement, with extremely smooth transitions connecting protagonists over great distances and time periods. You may notice many of the principal critters rarely or never appear in the same frame, although clever assembly makes them share the drama, heightened by undeniably frightening changes in weather patterns in recent years. Some of the best moments are the interludes with other species, such as shots of jellyfish floating underwater and aerial sweeps of a blue channel filled with migrating dolphins.

The overall effect, regardless of aesthetic quibbles or kudos, is to make kiddies acutely aware of the imminent risk to these environmentally interdependent creatures.