Parents' Guide to Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds

Herzog delivers another of his amazing nature documentaries that go beyond mere facts and into the cosmic, existential meaning of it all; this one, about meteorites, is glorious. Here, Herzog gives co-directing credit to volcanologist Oppenheimer, who previously appeared in Herzog's documentaries Encounters at the End of the World and Into the Inferno. Oppenheimer does the heavy lifting in Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds, interviewing the various scientists on camera and making the film's information, including some tricky mathematics and geometry, clear for viewers.

Meanwhile, Herzog narrates in his familiar, mournful voice, with his signature metaphysical, sometimes apocalyptic poetry lending the images an immensity that makes them seem comforting, like gazing up at a star-dotted sky and realizing that we aren't alone. As in his other movies, Herzog tends to follow his own insatiable curiosity, and he winds up in some amazing places; the two people who photograph the micrometeorites are a scientist who's also a jazz musician and a four-time cancer survivor who prefers to dress like Wyatt Earp. In the end, Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds reminds us that a big one may be coming our way someday, but that, at the same time, we're all stardust.