An Inconvenient Truth

Paramount, color, PG, 96 min. plus supplements, Dolby Digital, widescreen, Street: Nov. 21, $29.99; First Run: L, May 2006, $23.7 mil.

Although An Inconvenient Truth is essentially former Vice President Al Gore giving a slideshow presentation, this documentary is involving and interesting, providing Gore with the opportunity to show off the personality the media suggested he didn't have. Gore's passion for the environment and its threatened condition is apparent throughout, as he travels around the world presenting the same slideshow countless times in hopes that those listening will take note, make changes in policy and take action. The DVD package contains "An Update With Al Gore," which consists of extended and deleted scenes from the film, including such segments as "Ocean Acidification" and "Glacial Earthquakes," but most of the half-hour featurette presents shots of Gore as a talking head. The 11-minute making-of featurette is a somewhat uninteresting look at the building of the set, which is simply a stage with a large screen for the slideshow presentation, and the filming of the lecture. The film's most striking point is how everything is interconnected on Earth, as Gore explains how global warming affects the oceans, creating such intense weather conditions as hurricanes and then mentioning recent weather phenomenon Hurricane Katrina. But Gore ends Truth on a positive note, explaining the steps that can be taken to reverse the damage already done.