Customer Reviews

Nature: Big Cats

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This DVD containing two NATURE programs is a great bargain. "Chasing Big Cats" shows hunting techniques of Africa's large cats: Lion, Leopard, Cheetah and the elusive Serval and Caracal. It has some of the most extraordinary hunting footage I have ever seen. "Jaguar, Year of the Cat" covers a year in the life of Jaguar in central-American country of Belize. Supporting cast of this documentary is the exotic fauna and flora of tropical forest with crisp and vivid scenes throughout.
Both programs live up to high standards of wildlife filmmaking that we have come to expect from the NATURE series. The DVD has my highest recommendation.

This two-part documentary is superbly shot, nicely put together and has many hunting scenes that are expertly shot. One long scene in particular - about lionesses jumping on and killing a buffalo - is bone-chilling. There are some other scenes of smaller cats jumping in the air to catch a bird that is already airborne that you would never believe until you saw them.

The photographers are a couple that has spent over 14 years shooting in Africa. They have introduced techniques of shooting wildlife film that are unusual and enable them to get so close to the predators that you can almost smell them! The DVD is nicely put together, in good sequence and is very compelling viewing. The photography is top quality and the narration and editing very good. Highly recommended.

Superb job extraordinary and unique footage unfortunately Owen and Amanda very imprecise and incorrect commentating, Leopard has total darkness visibility, does not depend on the ears for the catch rather for the surroundings, like warnings etc (see one of National Geographic film on the Leopard.
The patient and devotion of Owen and Amanda bringing us the pictures some will never see in their life, with best selected spot and on the mark, requires a Pulitzer Prize.
Raise a thumb for the devotion and the educated pictures

The first documentary giving us a glimpse of 5 cats, the cheetah, the leopard, the serval, the caracal, and lions, is outstanding. The memory of the aftermath of a fight between four male lions from one pride and two male lions from another will stay with me forever, truly awesome! Coupled with some great shots of cubs of all sorts and their mothers, this is a documentary worth seeing over and over.

The second documentary, concerning the jaguar, is a disappointment despite some beautiful shots. It is filmed at an extremely slow space and with the jaguar itself representing just 20% of the entire program, the rest on various animals, birds, and insects in the jungle. The shots of the jaguar are memorable but too few and far between, hence the 3 star rating for this documentary, and probably generous at that. The first program more than makes up for this though. Well worth seeing!

I have been searching for the "chasing big cats" documentary for years! It's very difficult to find such fantastic filmography, especially on animals as secretive as the Serval, Caracal, and Leopard. Not to mention the fact that it actually displays the hardships of Lions and Cheetahs that almost no one knows about these animals.

The Jaguar video on the other hand was a bore. But I really only bought the DVD for the first part and it's so worth it!

Nature Big Cats is a wonderful documentary, with two different stories. It is very educational and a nice DVD the whole family can enjoy. I really enjoyed the series about Jaguar; Year of the Cat. The second series Chasing Big Cats was no big deal, something you could see on the discovery channel. I've owned this series for about five years now, and just now decided to post a review about it.

Jaguar: Year of the cat is the most comprehensive study of Jaguar's out here in the field of nature. Jaguar's look almost identical to leopards if you don't know the difference, and I like to study them as well. The leopards are more interesting to study I guess because, they are even more secretive than Jaguars, and their prey animals are so vast that it makes thing more interesting for leopards.

This video was shot in 1990. The photographers did capture awesome footage on film; however, after watching most of today's Big Cat videos, this one was not worth $17 to me. I do admit it was incredible footage and difficult work, particularly in those early days of filming on a tight budget with little time. The pair of photographers set excellent groundwork for future nature photographers, but I will give this particular video to someone else to enjoy, for no other reason than the quality of the video made it somewhat boring for me to watch. You will see some of the best slow-motion attacks ever done by the Big Cats. This documentary shows the true, hard life the animals live in the wild. The photography is certainly over the top of professionalism. I give it the highest rating for their work, the footage, the innovations they came up with to get the shots, and as they put it, often "luck." My only criticism is the dated look; I'm not a fan of older films. Get past that and you'll love it.

Saw this on PBS, and immediately ordered copies for gifts. The researchers are not only excellent photographers, but went to extra attention on editing and changing light source to produce video of these magnificent animals not seen anywhere.

This contains 2 documentaries and the first, "Chasing Big Cats," is just fascinating. It's a little older but the content itself is still great, especially the parts with the serval and caracal. I've never seen such footage of these cats before! I'll be watching this again for sure. The second documentary is about the jaguar. The pace for this video is much slower as it wasn't solely focused on the big cat. However, it was still interesting to see the other creatures' activities and the video was overall beautifully shot, so I didn't really mind.

I found this video very informative. You come away with a better understanding and appeciation of the Big Cats.