grendelkhan The hook of this documentary series is the footage in color and hi-def. In that, it succeeds. As an account of the war, with its complexity, it fails miserably. As a collection of first hand recollections, it has some very moving moments. In all, it's a bit of a mixed bag.The series is only looking at the American aspects of the war, with the Pacific getting the stronger treatment. This is in part due to the greater amount of color footage shot in the Pacific theater. Some of it has been seen before, as far back as the 1970s, in The World at War. The series also adds dramatic presentations of personal accounts, ala Ken Burns' work. However, it does this when it has the real subjects in interviews and their conversations, however halting and unpolished they may be, are far more powerful than those delivered by actors. The use of an actor narration, where the subject has passed on, makes sense; but, not when the subject is still alive and captured on film.The Good:Some of the footage has been rarely seen, or not seen at all by younger audiences. It doesn't shy away from showing the horror of the carnage, which is something that people need to remember in an era where war is presented like a video game, rather than death and destruction. A common theme amongst the veterans is that they witnessed terrible things and hope that the world can learn from its mistakes and settle things peacefully, so that no one has to suffer like that again.Some of the stories are heartbreaking, especially Rocky Blunt, who thought he was untouched by Army conditioning to kill, until it came down to his life or a German soldier. There is no Hollywood gloss as he tells, agonizingly, how he slit a German soldier's throat to keep him from giving away Blunt's position. It is obvious that he is haunted by that act to this day. Army Nurse June Wandry's account (via a dramatized narration) about treating the survivors of concentration camps brings tears to your eyes.The series also features some minority voices, via a member of the 442 Regimental Combat Team (the Nissei unit) and a pilot of the Tuskeege Airmen. These men had to endure prejudice as well as the horrors of war.The Bad:The background of the war is glossed over badly and one never gets a sense of the other side as anything other than "the enemy." The Eastern Front is completely ignored, as if the suffering of the Russian people is of little consequence. Allied forces are rarely presented, as if the US was alone in the war, giving a rather distorted perspective. Some of the footage is repeated at different points, suggesting that images have been placed in sections to illustrate the narrative, not based on where and when they were actually shot. Finally, the series is over-narrated in sections, when images can tell the story.In summary, if you want a comprehensive history of the war, with all of its complexity, then this isn't the series to provide that. The British series The World as War is the one you want. If you want to hear first hand accounts and see color footage, then this will suffice.

Brian Hougaard Baldersbaek (dk6400brian) My expectations were sky high when I hit the Buy-button and sat waiting for this BluRay 2 disc-set to arrive.I expected rolls of color footage transferred to BluRay so I could sit in my den, going time traveling for hours. But no. Instead I got small second sized fragments of footage here and there, drowned in dramatic music and a male drama voice telling the stories.I agree with one of the other reviewers, that this is a MTV-like presentation. Not worth a penny, unless you won't miss a second of color footage from World War 2.The bonus material tells a story of a 2 year hunt for footage and how they transferred the old color films into 4K resolution digital video. All their efforts are not present on this 2 disc BluRay. I repeat, not present.I'm giving this presentation a 2 out of 10 vote. One for the glimps of color footage and one for being in almost FullHD, 1080i.Honestly, I'm deeply disappointed. I waisted my money. There it is. I said it.

Kristaps Ozolins ...if only we took away politics. This is just another propaganda material, which justify some allied war crimes and demonize Germans and Japanese. It's understandable when you make such movies in war time, but it's not understandable when you make them 50 years after. In reality there is no bad or good people, there is no evil ones or holy ones, there are just people, some are worse, some are better. OK, if we put politics away, then there is left a bunch of good and not so good quality WWII war footage. It's very educational and impressive to watch. You can get sneak peak into real WWII world, not Hollywood-made one. Movie is made chronologically and starts with Guadalcanal operation, some intro is made before. Movie tells the story of American version of WWII - Pacific front, North Africa, Italy and France, so if you are more interested in eastern front and events before 7th December of 1941, this movie is not for you. I can't give this movie more than 3 stars because of massive propaganda. If you are easily influenced, don't watch it, otherwise get ready for some brainwashing and good luck!

pultzat I guess to start with a positive, the color footage is quite interesting and fun to see...but I'd really like to see it for more than 1-1.5 sec's at a time. I noticed this the most while watching the documentary with some music on instead of the narrative - unfortunately this product is yet another victim of the "MTV" style of rapid-fire editing. If you want a good WWII documentary that might suck you in a bit, try the WORLD AT WAR, produced in 1973. It's in Black and White (so what), and is much more satisfying and includes a lot more detail into campaigns that happened outside of direct American influence. My three stars are a reflection of my disappointment with the documentary and to compensate for the almost ridiculous 9.7 stars (at the time of writing).