Common Sense Media Review
By Tracy Moore
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Breathtaking docu zooms in on insect life in vivid color.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 6+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Microcosmos
What's the Story?
The world is overrun with insects, but have you ever seen them up close and personal? Here, time-lapse, slow-motion, and zoom lenses show us the insect world as we've never seen it. Spiders track and overwhelm their prey; bees zoom through the countryside, mosquitoes hatch, and beetles do battle as the camera races through grass, ponds, and hillsides to reveal the life teeming below.
Is It Any Good?
MICROCOSMOS was released in the mid-1990s, but it holds up. The revealing shots are as crisp and intimate as ever, and the film marvels at the natural world in what's more of a hypnotic meditation than a classroom lecture. That said, viewers looking for bug trivia will be disappointed. Though there's brief narration, the insects and weather are the stars here, and the documentary lets everybody do their thing while racing around to catch it all, pausing on occasion to watch a mosquito hatch or a beetle push a ball of dung uphill.
More importantly, one kid's awe is another kid's nightmare. Though most viewers will be fascinated by the unique vantage offered here and likely inspired by nature as a result, be cognizant of the unsettling aspect of seeing beetle jaws up close or spiders dragging their victims through the water to entomb them. Birth and cocoons and slithery worms are as intriguing as they are repellent, and rain never looked so violent as it does from the viewpoint of a nearly submerged frog.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the film's camera techniques of time-lapse, slow-motion, and microscopic closeups. How does it make the insect world look to you now? Had you ever seen it this close before?
Imagine what it would be like to experience the rain as the frog in the documentary did. What would you do? How do you think it would feel?
What role do insects play in our habitat? Should we fear them or be grateful for them?
Movie Details
- In theaters : February 4, 1996
- On DVD or streaming : May 3, 2005
- Cast : Kristin Scott Thomas
- Directors : Claude Nuridsany , Marie Pérennou
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Miramax
- Genre : Documentary
- Topics : STEM
- Character Strengths : Curiosity
- Run time : 75 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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