Kon-Tiki

A true story about Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl who attempted to prove that Polynesia was settled by people from Peru and not Asia, and builds a raft to recreate the journey. It's actually really good. Admittedly, it gets a bit melodramatic at times and probably plays up more tension than may have happened, but it's still a film where you find yourself rooting for the people on the raft to succeed in their journey. Recommended.

A Norwegian-filmed dramatization of Thor Heyerdahl's legendary expedition across the Pacific Ocean on a flimsy wooden raft. Lovingly constructed and beautifully filmed with a sharp eye for the grandiose, it's eye candy on the same level as Planet Earth, if to a slightly more reasonable scale. The plot is a gentle balance between nature-watching and temper-managing, as the crew of six men and a parrot get to know a bit too much about one another over the course of their hundred-day adventure. Several of the journey's more dramatic moments feel manufactured (and, upon review, actually are) but I'd hardly call that unexpected and it may have been necessary to give the story a bit of punch. After all, where's the excitement in watching two hours of smooth sailing against a tropical horizon? It's an uplifting tale, if not an especially challenging one, and excellent fuel for escapist daydreams. Definitely worth catching on Blu-Ray if you're as big on our planet's sights and sounds as I am.