"Arctic Tale" a cuddly global warning

"What will their children do if it disappears?" asks narrator Queen Latifah, speaking of the animals of the rapidly melting Arctic ice in the quasi-documentary "Arctic Tale." "What will ours?"

It's an important question that "Arctic Tale," a call-to-arms follower in the footsteps of "March of the Penguins" and "An Inconvenient Truth," does well to pose. The film, directed by Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson, is an often beautifully photographed story of two animals growing up in the unforgiving North. Nanu, a polar bear cub, and Seela, a walrus pup, face many hardships with their families as they grow to adulthood, not the least of which is the gradual vanishing of their once-icebound home.

Much care has been taken to make this tale family-friendly, and children should be captivated by the appealing animal characters (there's a moment of walrus flatulence that should inspire rounds of giggling) and the warm let's-tell-a-story tones of Queen Latifah. (Sensitive children, though, may be upset by the deaths of several key animals throughout the film. "A single death preserves the lives of many," the narration observes; true, but small children may not grasp the point.) And while the film's use of very young kids to lisp messages of environmental conservation at its conclusion feels stagy, it may well prompt some appropriate questioning for home discussion.

Adults may appreciate "Arctic Tale," a presentation from National Geographic Films, less for its storytelling than its enchanting visuals. The husband-and-wife filmmaking team spent 15 years in the Canadian Arctic, capturing the film's images up close. "Arctic Tale" seems to reveal infinite shades of ice-blue; its icebergs sparkle like diamonds. Twin baby bears somersault down a frozen hill, their cream-colored coats merging happily with the grainy white. The underwater footage of bears and walruses swimming may well take your breath away, and the sight of a bear stranded on a floating iceberg has a genuine poignancy.

When the film's over, though, grown-up viewers may wonder exactly what they just saw, and about the film's curious blend of fact and storytelling. The animal characters, as the filmmakers acknowledge in press materials, are composites, and the story was crafted from footage gathered over many years. Though the narration is often thoughtful and vivid (a herd of narwhals is referred to as "the unicorns of the sea"), it at times resorts to cutesy anthropomorphizing, with Nanu and Seela seeming like characters in a perky cartoon.

The heart of "Arctic Tale" is surely in the right place, and it has a message that needs to be heard and discussed. Though the journey is a little bumpy, it's still a trip well worth taking, for all ages.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com