Netflix's Our Great National Parks lets Barack Obama try his hand at being America’s Sir David Attenborough

The Hollywood Reporter

"For those wondering if Obama’s presence in Our Great National Parks is just token episodic book-ending, the answer is 'No,'" says Daniel Fienberg of the ex-president's five-episode docuseries. "The former president is a fully committed and present figure here, making on-camera appearances at the top of each episode, providing full-throated narration throughout and even seemingly trolling the Fox News crowd with the selection of episodic locations, which include Hawaii, Kenya and Indonesia, each tied in some way to Obama’s biography." Fienberg adds: "Unsurprisingly, Obama turns out to be a very fine narrator, and not just when Our Great National Parks has dogmatic points to make: He explains the synergistic ways in which governmentally reserved natural spaces can have non-antagonistic relationships with nearby human populations. He contributes wry humor to the scripts, with their slightly superficial, overly anthropomorphic explanations for animal behavior. And, more than that, his trademark deliberate cadences and oft-emulated calculated pauses are a perfect delivery mechanism for letting lovely nature photography breathe." ALSO: Here are five lessons from Our Great National Parks.