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Winged Migration

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 5, age appropriate for kids over 7; suggested age 7.

  • Is it any good?

    4.0
  • Common Sense says

    As pretty and light as a feather on the wind.

Why We Rated This on for Ages 7 and Up

What to watch out for

  • Messages:

    Not an issue.
  • Violence & scariness:

    Birds face peril, including hunters, industrial sludge, turbines, avalanches, and other birds, some are killed.
  • Sexy stuff:

    Not an issue.
  • Language:

    Not an issue.
  • Consumerism:

    Not an issue.
  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Not an issue.

What Parents Need to Know

This review of Winged Migration was written by Nell Minow

Parents need to know that birds face peril on land and on the wing. Several are shot, a couple of them are caged, and some are preyed upon by other birds. A Red-Breasted Goose flounders in an oil refinery's effluent and is left behind by the flock in one scene while in another it is implied that a penguin chick is eaten by a scavenger. Young children might be disturbed by the inability of an injured Tern to escape from attacking crabs.

Families Can Talk About

Talk to your kids about the media in their life. We have more tools and tips that can help
  • Families can talk about how birds can either be helped or hindered by humans or something human-built. Is the help or hindrance intended? What could your family do that might make an impact on the lives of birds?
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More on Winged Migration

What’s the Story?

Is It Any Good?

Winged Migration is as pretty and light as a feather on the wind; never stopping long enough to get mired down in detail, while always keeping your imagination on the wing. When several geese hitch a ride on a ship's deck during a storm in the middle of a sea, the audience breathes a collective sigh of relief. It is, perhaps, our connection to the birds that is the most interesting achievement of the movie. That we are flesh and they are fowl is irrelevant as they pursue lives as fragile and mesmerizing as any caught on film.

Lovely as it is, there are two aspects of this movie that do not flyL: the soundtrack and the sporadic commentary by director Jacques Perrin. The second-rate New Age soundtrack makes you long for those moments where the only music is beating wings and the raucous honks of our feathered friends. Perrin, who sounds like a bored Jacques Cousteau, provides no insights into the birds when he does feel moved to speak, but plenty of penny ante philosophy, which doesn't do justice to the heroic journeys on screen. The film's direction seems without reason at times, drifting between continents and species without that instinctual compass so vaunted in its subjects. However, there were no complaints from an audience willing to glide on its journey from the African White Pelican to Antarctica's Rock-hopper Penguins to the flamboyant characters of an Amazon jungle. If you dream of flying to far-off lands but do not want to dwell on reason or details, then Winged Migration might be the gust of wind to take you there.

Movie Details

Studio: Sony Pictures, Director: Jacques Perrin
Run time: 89 minutes
Theatrical release: 4/18/2003, DVD release: 11/18/2003
MPAA Rating: G for all audiences

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Most Recent Reviews

  1. Adult Reviewer
    Lives in California
    I rate this title on for age 0 and give it 5.0

    Soaring Delight

    I watched this documentary with my 4 and 6 year old, they were enthralled and wanted to watch it repeatedly! I do not know why this is rated for 7+. Any child who loves animals and the outdoors or who are curious about them will enjoy this film. We talked about gaming and trapping animals and what the kids would do if they ever saw an animal in the wild, trapped or otherwise. Good platform to talk about safety with wild animals.

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