If “Spellbound” was the 2003 documentary that showed how you can thrill an audience and inspire cheers without having to spend millions on CGI special effects and elaborate costuming and sets, “Winged Migration” evoked awe sans X-Men, Spidey, or Neo battling three dozen Agent Smiths.
Is it possible to fill 98 minutes with flying birds and not bore an audience? Skeptics should remember that it’s been done with two guys yakking over dinner (“My Dinner With Andre”) and even one guy sitting in a chair and talking at the camera armed with nothing more than a glass of water (Spalding Gray’s various filmed monologues). In contrast, this film has a cast of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, and they come in an astonishing array of colors and shapes.
