Original Article Link
Planet Earth is #1 in my book. I won’t go into detail on what makes it great, since my comments on most of their other picks should explain it. Cartoons may look and sound great, but if you’re trying to demo the whole setup, then a cartoon does your TV an injustice. We can’t see the “realism” in a cartoon because it simply is NOT real. You need live action to experience the realism. You can’t feel like you’re there… in a cartoon.
Now, when it comes to using a scene from a movie, I have an issue there, too, but to a lesser degree. It’s all about the right scene. In order for it to work, it needs to be self explanatory. In essence, if the viewer doesn’t understand or care what’s going on, it doesn’t matter how good the material is. Transformers is a perfect example of this issue. If the viewer (my father, for instance) couldn’t care less about giant robots fighting, the scene is lost. However, a car chase, such as in Casino Royale, should be completely self explanatory both visually and aurally.
.
