Watch Kids' Reviews of
MICROCOSMOS

There are about 950,000 species of insects on Earth. This was an amazing movie that lets us see just a few of them in their everyday lives - caterpillars, ladybugs, bees, wasp, butterflies, beetles, snails, grass hoppers, spiders and many more.

The cinematography is breath taking. I still wonder how they got a camera tiny enough to fit into an ant colony so we could watch them store food. Watching a spider eat a shrimp under water is head tilting.

It is an amazing film which lets you watch insects being born. I never thought of bugs as cute before. Well, maybe a lady bug and I do have a pet preying mantis but, this film actually made me want to pet a few of them. You could actually see that bumble buzzes are cute and fluffy, that snails fall in love and ants like to have clean faces. The birth of the insects is fascinating. They all come from eggs and eat them when they are born. Then they dry off and are ready to play in the world.

My favorite scene is watching a butterfly come out of its cocoon. They are stunning and you get to see every detail of their beautiful wings. I also loved watching the lady bugs take off and fly with their hard, bright red spotted shells and hidden wings for flight.

The caterpillars are very cute. There is a large variety of them, all with different faces.

Viewing the flowers waking up each morning and how they wrap themselves up for a good night sleep was stunning. I never knew how insects got pollen and now I do.

The time lapse photography of watching a Venus fly trap capture a bee is another wow moment in this movie.

This is a visual film with the audio being that of the surroundings. Insects don't really talk so it is all about natural sounds.

I recommend this film for ages 4 to 18. I think an audience as young as 4 would love this movie. It might seem a bit long so I would split it up into a few viewings. For bugs lovers, this is a must see. I give this movie 4 ½ Twinkling Stars.

Even though this movie gave me a new prospective on insects and I found them to be incredible I think I will still keep my fly swatter handy.

Reviewed by KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Morgan B.

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A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.