WHEN PENGUINS FLY An emperor gets over its wing envy.

The hundreds of hours of footage collected for the television series Blue Planet teems with brilliant images of the world's oceanic life: Gulls swoop, penguins waddle with hilarious dignity and dolphins careen like physical expressions of joy. Boiling this archive down to a single "best of" reel must have sounded like a good idea. And there is no denying that some of the action on display is breathtaking. Schools of fish swerve in mysterious unison, polar bears become unexpectedly balletic in the water, and the whales...Well, who can say anything bad about whales?

Unfortunately, the glory of the images soon sinks beneath the weight of the cliches. Every image has to be explained in anthropomorphic terms, delivered with plummy relish by narrator Brosnan. A coral reef is described without irony as "prime real estate for fish" and "a thriving metropolis." But no time to explain in detail! We've got a world to dash around: a few minutes on emperor penguins, a few on polar bears, a bit of beluga footage. Eventually, it feels like one of those rushed bus tours, except this one has a score that crosses late romantic classical with Yanni. It's a pity, because the footage itself is so remarkable that you want the filmmakers to just settle down and let us enjoy one piece of this big blue marble for a while.—Hank Sartin