Staying Fit
A turtle swimming over coral reefs in "David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet."
Netflix
To celebrate Earth Day this year, why not watch a great movie or series that makes you fall in love with nature, and yearn to preserve it? Here are 10 great ones, from documentaries to biopics to a magical fantasy film with an important real-world lesson.
Secrets of the Elephants (2023)
Elephants — they’re just like us! Well, similar, anyway, as you’ll discover in this globe-trotting National Geographic doc about pachyderms from the savannas of Africa to urban environments in Asia, narrated by Natalie Portman. And since it’s executive produced by Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron, of course it boasts new camera technology to reveal the latest discoveries about our intelligent fellow creatures.
Watch it: Secrets of the Elephants, April 22 on Disney+
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The Biggest Little Farm (2019)
Does Earth Day make you feel like leaving city life behind and fleeing to live in harmony with nature on your own biodynamic, pesticide-free farm? Los Angeles émigrés John and Molly Chester did it, and documented their new life over eight years, braving chicken-snatching coyotes, drought, wildfires and snail invasion. What they found was a life with all kinds of unexpected pleasures — like a rooster who befriended a pig.
Watch it: The Biggest Little Farm on Prime Video
WALL-E (2008)
Besides being a highly entertaining, six-Oscar-nominated film whose directors watched every Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton movie for comedy tips, the story about a trash-compacting robot named Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-class (or WALL-E for short) is a winning environmentalism flick with a serious message.
Watch it: Wall-E on Disney+
Ice on Fire (2019)
Instead of hectoring you into despair, this Leonardo DiCaprio-narrated documentary about climate change also offers some rays of hope, along with utterly stunning drone shots of Arctic glaciers and fire-menaced redwood forests, insightful interviews with experts and excellent explanatory graphics. Yes, it’s scary, but you also see the innovative technologies that may yet avert our global doom.
Watch it: Ice on Fire on HBO Max
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020)
If you liked his blockbuster Blue Planet movies, tune in for the natural-history documentarian’s film warning that our world is in big trouble. A longtime climate-change skeptic, Sir David Attenborough, 96, has revised his views after an avalanche of evidence. It draws from 60 years’ worth of his renowned nature docs, and his own life and reflections. (Also, don’t miss his 2016 documentary miniseries Planet Earth II)
Watch it: David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet on Netflix
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