Octopus! Review: A Warm and Hilarious Dive

Octopus! Review: In this Prime Video documentary series, we follow the life cycle of the Giant Pacific Octopus through the eyes of various people whose lives revolve around them.

The series has 2 episodes, each with a runtime of around 30 minutes.

Octopus! Review

This might not be the first time you are watching a documentary on marine life, or, particularly on our intelligent and rather slimy friends, the octopuses, but this might be the first time a nature documentary pushes you to tears. Octopus!, on Prime Video, is a surprisingly empathetic and rather accessible two-part documentary that is short enough and brilliantly narrated to keep you engaged throughout its short runtime.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is an extremely talented individual in all spheres, and the way she narrates this, I can almost see her face if I close my eyes. Her voice is as soothing as it is approachable and makes a lot of sense in this documentary about the lives and times of an octopus. The point of the documentary is to showcase empathy for all creatures and relate their experiences to our own. It brings forth different perspectives and opinions that might seem conflicting, but are tied together by the same thread.

I think these different perspectives brought a lot of colour to the tapestry of this beautiful show and bring forth many nuanced points of discussion for viewers. For example, one can argue that a show about conservation and understanding of a living creature shouldn’t showcase their hunting in a positive light, but it effectively brings that point forth with facts to showcase that there are some positives in (almost) every situation.

There are moments in Waller-Bridge’s narration that almost moved me to tears. Presenting facts is one thing, but Octopus! tells us these facts in such a human way that you can’t help but feel your heart break for these complex and interesting creatures. I enjoyed the animated and the live-action portions of it; they blend seamlessly together and make the series more dynamic. The people featured in the documentary clearly not only have a lot of knowledge but also a lot of empathy for the octopuses. I found the documentary to be rather different from the ones that we are usually subjected to, which, although beautiful, don’t have warmth to them.

Final Thoughts

Octopus! isn’t just another nature documentary. There’s a warmth and emotion behind it that we don’t usually come across in nature programs that humanise the creatures and make them more accessible. I loved watching it; of course, Waller-Bridge’s signature humour helps, as well.

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