Warner Bros. | 2009 | 41 mins. | Rated G
Director Howard Hall has taken us to the ocean floor before, bringing us Deep Sea, Island of the Sharks, Into the Deep, and Nature. With his most recent project, Howard and his crew take us Under the Sea. Originally intended to be seen on a giant IMAX screen in 3-D, watching the documentary on a comparatively small screen, albeit in high definition, tends to scale back the experience. Despite that, Under the Sea still offers a tremendous amount of beauty in each frame. Though the film runs a mere 41 minutes, each shot is a sight to behold.
Like Hall’s previous films about the sea, this one explores only a fraction of underwater plants and animals that exist in the world’s oceans, yet the ones we see on display are amazing. Thanks to Hall, his superb crew of cinematographers, a surprisingly subdued and evenhanded narration by Jim Carrey, and a pleasant musical score by Mickey Erbe and Maribeth Solomon, Under the Sea entertains and enlightens throughout its run time.
I was skeptical when I saw “narrated by Jim Carrey.” I had visions of him making animal jokes throughout, and changing the pitch of his voice as new species entered the scene. Instead, Carrey handles his duties in a quiet way, with an occasional sprinkling of light humor. I don’t know if his style would work for a longer film or series, but it works well here.
The film was shot primarily along the Coral Triangle, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and other tropical waters of the South Pacific. While viewers are given plenty of information to accompany the video footage, it’s the creatures themselves that are bound to fascinate most. We see the mating rituals of giant cuttlefish, watch sea dragons drift by like seaweed caught on an ocean current, get a glimpse of venomous sea snakes more poisonous than king cobras, a gorgeous crown jellyfish, and a garden of eels you have to see to believe.
Carrey informs us that more marine species live in the area around the Coral Triangle, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea than anywhere else in the world. Further, each species is distinctly different from every other species, so that means there are species of countless colors, shapes and sizes. Put in the context of the dotage that Under the Sea provides, all of that is just amazing!
Aside from bring painfully short (I wanted to see more!), IMAX: Under the Sea provides a fascinating look at dome of the creatures that inhabit or oceans. Those who love documentary and/or nature films, will surely want to add this to their collections.
Originally shown in a 1.44:1 IMAX screen ratio in 3-D, Warners have trimmed the dimensions a bit to fit a 16×9 widescreen television, and they use VC-1 encode to transfer it to Blu-ray disc. The results are spectacular. Colors are vivid, and the high definition is about as precise as it can be. The effect is so good that while this is not a 3-D rendering of the film, it is so crystalline clear; it looks as though it’s three dimensional. Excellent stuff.
The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack provides a wide frequency and dynamic response, with an impressive display of surround activity. The rear and side channels deliver not only a welcome musical ambiance but the rush of sea and waves as well. The only minor drawback I found was that the sound of music and water sometimes tended to overwhelm Jim Carrey’s narration. However, I would hardly term this a major issue.
The special features, while exclusive to thr Blu-ray are limited.
• Filming IMAX: Under the Sea (HD, 7 minutes) is an extended preview at best, a gushing EPK at worst.
• Five Expeditions (HD, 12 minutes) are actually short webisodes that do little more than introduce the various locales where Howard Hall and his crew shot the documentary.
Please note: while Warner’s press release, online coverart, and Amazon’s product listing suggest the Blu-ray edition of IMAX: Under the Sea includes both a standard DVD and Digital Copy of the film, the sealed and shrink-wrapped screener the studio sent is a single-disc release that doesn’t have either.
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