Rating: 3.8/5 stars
Scrolling through the endless sea of Netflix’s entertainment offerings on a weekend night, a nature docuseries titled “Wild Babies” caught my attention. After watching the trailer, I thought, “Hey, a show about cute animal babies. Perfect for some feel-good fun!”
However, my foggy, late-Saturday-night brain forgot this was, well, a nature docuseries. There are plenty of happy-go-lucky baby animals playing, but you also get to see a part of the nitty-gritty upbringing of being an offspring from species that didn’t invent the internet. A variety of animals make their earthly debuts in the docuseries: a Cape fur seal pup plopping into existence on the beaches of Namibia’s Skeleton Coast, lion cubs born into the hit list of every other predator that shares their Mpumalanga postal code in South Africa, an emperor penguin chick trying to stay alive in the frigid and icy environment of Antarctica, and more. Despite the different lifestyles and habitats all of the animals come from, the love and care of a parent is what really allows a baby animal to thrive. Kind of like us humans.
Except for you, sea turtles. It’s sink or swim from the moment you hatch, baby.
An unexpected upside of the documentary is the narrator, English actress Helena Bonham Carter. Carter narrated her lines almost like she was reading a bedtime story. It was rather soothing to hear while the baby animals’ antics played out onscreen.
However, If you’re like me and have a love of nature documentaries that cannot be matched with a proper attention span, Bonham’s narrations won’t keep you around for too long. I suggest watching only an episode or two per sitting. This makes watching the show a nice break from the day, and doesn’t feel repetitive. There are only so many baby animals a person can watch before the mind starts to wander.