DVD: The White Planet (E)

Replete with breathtaking footage of the North Pole's animal inhabitants, the French-Canadian director Jean Lemire's documentary snapshot of life in the Arctic tundra over the course of a year is mercifully light on global-warming preaching, but painfully heavy on anthropomorphising commentary.

Perhaps the charm has been lost in translation, but the narrator's quasi-philosophical asides are often too much to bear, and too many elements detract from the film's cinematographical excellence. With a world music soundtrack so bland it would make Enya blush, this may be one to watch with the mute button firmly depressed.