High School Musical’s Zac Efron is all grown up in his latest Netflix series Down to Earth.
In Down to Earth, Efron and his pal Darin, travel the world to seek out sustainable living practices and learn about the effects of climate change and over-consumption while taking us on a truly beautiful and enlightening journey.
While the trailer may make it seem like any other travel show, now led by a Hollywood hunk, the viewer quickly learns that Down to Earth is different, in that the true star of the show is the message of sustainable living which is very present in each episode.
From Iceland to Costa Rica to Peru and Puerto Rico, the show is a visual feast for the eyes and can stand side-by-side with the other nature docs on Netflix. The lessons it teaches are also worth learning. It’s actually not hard to imagine Down to Earth becoming part of a very hip, very millennial high school teacher’s curriculum when school starts back up in September.
And come on, all lessons are worth learning when they’re paired with Zac Efron 2.0, an upgraded version of ex-teen heartthrob who apparently took a lot of Wolverine workout tips from Hugh Jackman while working on The Greatest Showman.
If you’re not a Zac Efron fan, however, this show may require you to watch a few episodes before you are fully convinced. While each episode takes the viewer on a visual and englightening journey, it’s hard to understand what exactly we are supposed to grasp from each episode at first.
Is it meant to inspire a love for the natural environment? Are we supposed to stop and question everything we’ve learned about living up to this point? It’s hard to say initially, as the environmental facts are thrown at us but haven’t really been posed in a way to make us question ourselves and ways of living in a modern society.
After about three episodes, you get the gist. Zac and Darin’s travels are meant to showcase ways of living and solutions to problems which may not be apparent to those of us living in big cities. Instead of preaching to their audience, the duo understands that through Bill Nye-style voiceovers with Parts Unknown like cinematography, a millenial audience will soon enough start to understand the messages that are being pushed.
Down to Earth is fun enough, educational enough and silly enough to shed some light, even in a small way, on the viewers and at the end, we do get the point.
“The Earth will always be here,” Efron ends the first episode, “we just might not be able to live on it for too long.”
Will you watch Down to Earth?
Let us know in the comments below!