An Arctic Tale

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An Arctic Tale is a 2007 documentary that follows a polar bear, Nanu, and a walrus, Seela.

Tropes used in An Arctic Tale include:
  • Heel Face Turn: The male polar bear.
  • Tear Jerker: The death of Nanu's brother and Seela's Auntie
  • Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: Too many to count, but baby Seela and her mother hugging definately counts as the most adorable scene this troper has ever seen.
  • Ugly Cute: Even as a baby, Seela looks like a wrinkled old man with whiskers. But that doesn't make her any less cuter.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter
  • Hunter of His Own Kind: Seela and her brother's mother lets them know that other polar bears are just as apt to kill them as anyone else.
  • Babies Ever After: The movies closes with Nanu giving birth to two cubs of her own and Seela birthing a female calf.
  • Green Aesop: Throughout the film, narrator Queen Latifah makes allusions to how the rising temperature is affecting the animals in the ice kingdom. A message at the end of the animal footage notes that if the current trend continues, there will be no Arctic ice remaining by the year 2040
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Under attack by a polar bear, Seela is rescued by her aunt. However, the polar bear has more power on land and she dies while giving Seela precious time to escape.
  • Anvilicious: The green aesop mentioned. May also count as an Anvil That Needs to Be Dropped.
  • Woobie: After the death of her brother, poor Nanu hunts on her own but with little success. It's hard not to feel pity for her after seeing her swim for miles to a remote island in a desperate search for food. By the time she gets there, she's skeletally thin even under the thick fur and too weak to capture food on her own. She is either given the choice of trying to steal a little meat from her larger male rival or continue searching for food elsewhere, both of which could end in her demise.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Arguably Nanu's willingness to face up against a gaint male polar bear for the share of his kill, despite being near death herself.
  • Not So Different: Despite the prey-predator relationship between walruses and polar bears, filmmaker Adam Ravetch noted that the experience filming them made him "realize that both have quite a lot in common."
  • Celebrity Voice Actor: Queen Latifah is the narrator.
  • Polar Bears and Penguins: Being a nature documentary, this is completely averted.