Oceans the Movie on Earth Day

I celebrated Earth Day by going to see Oceans the new release from Disney Nature. 

This 90 minute documentary is incredible. Directed by Jacques Perrin and Jaques Cluzaud the film takes you around the globe from pole to pole. I personally recognized many of the shooting locations in the film such as Cocos, Galapagos and of course Isla Guadalupe. However I also realized that some of the footage was shot in an aquarium. (Lionfish, Manta shrimp vs. Crab sequence). But that is cool. I think they more than made up for that with some really epic open water sequences.

So I will have to give it a score of 8.5 for its amazing footage and the positive message that is brought into the story albeit a little late in the film. Any "Save Our Oceans" message is welcome and needed, hopefully our society will take notice. 

I would have to say the the cetacean footage definitely surpassed any that I have ever seen on the BIG screen. With the Humpback whales in perfect visibility and one literally soaring across the sandy bottom of some beautiful spot in Tonga. That was simply stunning. Magic! The Blue whale footage was really impressive as well  with some eye-popping close ups in a cloud of krill. That cameraman must have some serious cajones getting in there with a 100' Blue whale in a cloud of krill/food. That scene was pretty impressive.

Now as for the great white shark footage I would say they did an OK job. They certainly did not vilify the sharks, in fact they attempted to show the animals as quite docile and almost friendly. The diver swimming along side a rather large female (could be either Gill Raker or Kimmmel) is sure to impress the masses. I noticed her gaping and signaling that she really did not like the little french dude getting that close. Obviously she tolerated the whole situation and cooperated with them long enough to give the world an awesome glimpse of what Isla Guadalupe is all about.

There are some other very impressive scenes such as a million Spider Crabs massing together stacked 3 deep as far as you could see. The Cuttle fish scenes were staged and there was definitely some feeding going on here and there. The editing was actually pretty rough and the film losses continuity several times. They did a great job and I know that it is very difficult to take 5 or 6 years of hard work and cram it into 90 minutes. It is a great film for school aged kids as well as the whole family.

So go out and see it! Write us back and tell us what you think!

Yours in sharks,
Lawrence