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The Movie: Jane Goodall is now 70 (and looks younger than her age), and yet she still manages to spend 300 days a year going around the world speaking about conversation, protecting wildlife species and other related topics. Goodall, famed for many things, is most widely known for her work with chimpanzees in Africa. "Return to Gombe" chronicles Goodall's return to the African area to study a group of apes whose leader appears as if he's about to be overthrown. Once there, we get to watch as the animals interact with one another (and Goodall, as in one remarkable moment, we see one of the animals button Goodall's shirt) and display some fascinating behaviors. Throughout the interview, we also hear some of Goodall's stories from her past and her thoughts on what needs to be done to protect animals in the future. Despite clocking in at only 50 minutes, "Return to Gombe" gets right to the point, providing fascinating information and examples of the society of the animals and their behaviors. While conservation is wonderful, the program thankfully provides some of the most important points and information and lets the footage of the animals do most of the talking about why we need to protect their environment. Overall, a very enjoyable program from Animal Planet. The DVD VIDEO: "Return to Gombe" is presented by Sony Pictures Home Video in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture quality is excellent, as the image remained crystal clear throughout, with good fine detail. Some minor shimmering appeared in a couple of instances, but no pixelation, source flaws or other concerns showed up. Colors looked natural and vibrant, with nice saturation and no smearing. SOUND: The stereo soundtrack presented both the animal sounds, narration, ambience and dialogue crisply and clearly. EXTRAS: The only extra is a wonderful 26-minute featurette visiting with Dr. Goodall, who discusses her career in fine detail. It's an excellent piece that gives a great deal of insight and offers some very engaging stories. Final Thoughts: "Return to Gombe" is both a compelling look at Goodall's career and how chimps interact with one another. The DVD offers very good audio/video quality, as well as a solid extra. Recommended. |