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Cane Toads - An Unnatural History

Cane Toads - An Unnatural History

List Price: $24.95
Your Price: $22.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fascinating example of why man can't be the end of evolution
Review: I just watched this last night. It is truly a great example of how man can destroy exactly what he wants to protect. Luckily the irony of the situation is not missed by the creator(s?) of the film. It reminds us why we should think twice before meddling with earth, currently the only place mankind has to live. Warning to the squeamish! Look away when you see a toad with a white mouse on it's head.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Abolutely Hysterical
Review: I laughed until I cried. Not since Monty Python have I enjoyed a video so much. It was informative, educational, and entertaining. While students may not get the British-style humor, the other teachers and I enjoyed it immensely. This is a must-see for environmentalists.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cane toads will crack you up!
Review: I show this video in my environmental classes and the students LOVE it!!! This is one of the cleverest, funniest natural history videos out there--I only wish there were more videos by the same writer/director. It's not really just for scientists either...there's something in there for everyone.

I've shown this video to lots of people and have yet to meet someone who didn't love it. As the DVD cover says, this is what you'd get if Monty Python made National Geographic specials. It's a bit old and dated looking, but you'll hardly notice because you'll be laughing so hard. I wish it came with subtitles because the Aussie accent is sometimes hard to follow, so you have to listen closely.

I know a few people commented on the raunchy or bizarre aspects of the video but there's nothing here that's not PG. In all, I recommend it highly! It's a delight.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best thing EVER!
Review: I took a class just for credit wherein the professor showed this movie to us on a day when she had other business to attend to. None of us thought anything of it at first. She had said we would all really enjoy it, but she really loves being a biologist and probably enjoys most documentaries. Much to our shock, this hilariously cheeky film starts rolling! I don't think I ever laughed so hard in a class before. This documentary is amazing, bizarre, and since it holds your attention so well with its hilarity, it's oddly informative and educational. Anyone who likes the quirkier side of life, needs to definately see this!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best Cheering Up Film
Review: I watched this film stuffed up with a horrible flu and feeling very sorry for myself having just broken up with someone. This film had me laughing outloud with its tongue in cheek approach to the documentary. I endedup showing it to everyone I knew. A retail designer I know ended up buying it for everyone as a Christmas present!

This film plus Bill Murray's Groundhog's Day never fail to get a smile out of me.

Enjoy!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Monty Python meets National Geographic
Review: I've used this in my Biology classes for years. It's the one movie every student asks to see again. Thankfully there's no laugh track...but you can't help but laugh in spite of the seriousness of this ecological debacle. "Cane toads are coming. Main roads are humming, with the cane toad blues!"

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: HOPPING HIGH HUMOR
Review: In the serious opening of "CANE TOADS" we are told that in the 1930s sugar cane was one of Australia's major exports, but in North Queensland farmers had a problem that threatened their crops -- the dreaded cane grub. In some places the devastating cane grub and beetle infestation reduced crop output ratio from about 1000 tons to less than one ton. Something had to be done. At the 1932 World Conference of Sugar Technology in Puerto Rico, entomologist Raquel Dexter suggested the Bufo Marinus -- or Cane Toad -- be imported from Hawaii. The idea was that it would eat the Greyback beetle, parent of the cane grub. In 1935, 102 of these amphibious immigrants were introduced to Australia. Problem was, the cane toads ate almost everything that moved -- except the underground cane grub and the voracious cane-eating flying parent beetle. One male and female toad couple can produce over 40,000 fertile eggs in a season. Today, grapefruit-sized cane toads dominate the northern half of Queensland.

Writer and director Mark Lewis, who has cornered the market on twisted animal documentaries ("A Natural History of the Chicken, "Rat," and "Animalicious") has fashioned an unexpectedly quirky, esoteric and often hysterical film about a serious problem. Mixed in with the scientific information, much of it delivered by Monty Pythonesque but legitimate experts, are the common folk and farmers who are either devoted friends or avowed enemies of the notorious, sex-obsessed toad. Speaking of sexual obsession, you will see a love-struck male toad dodging cars to spend eight hours mating with a very dead-in-the-middle-of-the-road female. Much of the movie is cleverly photographed from the toads' point-of view.

This is a great nature film that brilliantly underscores the dangers of well-intentioned humans tampering with the natural order of things. The catchy Aussie folk song "Cane Toads a Comin'" is still ringing in my ears. Also on the disc is "Signing Off," a bonus short film about an elderly New Zealand disc jockey's last day on the job. He has been let go since research indicates his program of nostalgia tunes literally no longer has any listeners. Oh, there is one old lady. And her simple request for a favorite tune essentially ends up destroying the station and the building. A zany, weirdly sentimental masterpiece of chaos and destruction. Both films highly recommended. Yes, you will laugh out loud.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cane toads Funny
Review: It was so funny!!! Especially the part when the toad was in the middle of the road mating with a dead female and this guy was watchig astonished. I watch the movie every summer. It is truly histerical. Another thing is when the guy uses it for hallucinations.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pet Cane Toads
Review: Loved it! These are real folks with real views on the Cane Toad problem. This is a great way to teach young impressionable minds the hazards of introducing a species to an environment where there are no predators! It demonstrates the reason why there is a lot of controversy over using other species to control for a pest species rather than just eliminating the pest using pesticides. I will show this video to my students when we do our predator-prey & population studies. This video is very informational without all the high-tech mumbo-jumbo and big vocabulary terms. They get their point across so well and they do it in a fun way. You be the judge. Check this one out today!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best educational movie ever!
Review: My biology teacher in college showed this to the class and I had tears in my eyes the whole time from laughing so hard. I love this movie!


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