IMAX Under the Sea
Directed By: Howard Hall
Narrated by: Jim Carrey
| Studio: Warner Bros. Year: 2009 Rated: G Film Length: 41 minutes Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Dutch Release Date: March 30, 2010 |
The Film ****
IMAX: Under the Sea is an underwater nature documentary in the vein of and from the same filmmakers who produced IMAX Deep Sea in 2006. While that earlier film focused primarily on the sea life surrounding North America, for Under the Sea, the film crew ventures further afield to much more exotic locations including South Australia, Australia'a Great Barrier Reef, and the Coral Triangle around Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. Spectacular sights captured include Wobbegong Sharks, Sea Snakes, Cuttle Fish, Great White Sharks, Reef Squid, a field of garden eels, jellyfish, puppy dog cute Australian Sea Lions, and intricate and bizarre looking Sea Dragons. Many of the creatures captured on film are exclusive to their exotic locations which makes the “IMAX Experience” the closest that most viewers are likely to get to actually seeing them in person. Some sequences impress based on the sheer proximity of the cameras to the creatures as is the case with the Great White Shark footage. Others capture the creatures engaged in unusual feeding or mating activities such as a sequence involving a Sea Turtle dining on a Jellyfish.Straightforward narration from Jim Carrey explains in simple terms the various underwater creatures and environments appearing on the screen peppered occasionally with an ecological message about the negative effects of rising global temperatures and oceanic acidification on the delicate balance of these environments and the diverse species relying on them for survival. I did not find Carrey’s voice especially distinctive in the absence of his physical presence on screen, and the resulting narrative, while informative, comes across a little bit dull. This is more than compensated for by the consistently remarkable footage of underwater species both familiar and rare. Occasional moments of humor are injected into the narrative, but they are of the generally corny nature one expects from educational films. The funniest bit of commentary occurs outside the course of the narration when the mating ritual between two male and one fickle female Flamboyant Cuttle Fish is depicted accompanied by Doris Day’s recording of the song “Perhaps”.
The Video **½
No flat 2D video presentation is ever going to do full justice to the film's native IMAX 3D format, but this DVD presentation, cropped from its native IMAX aspect ratio to fill the entire 16:9 enhanced frame, has some unnecessary shortcomings. The film consists largely of highly detailed shots of underwater environments. While color and shadow detail are rendered well, whenever the camera starts to move, which is most of the time since the intent of the film is frequently to be moving the viewer through a 3-D environment, bursts of digital compression artifacts become evident in the most detailed areas of the frame. These artifacts will become more evident the larger the viewing screen size.The Audio ****
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track provides a solid repurposing of the IMAX surround track with generally strong fidelity and a wide dynamic range. The mix itself is a bit more subdued in its use of foley effects than that of its predecessor IMAX: Deep Sea, but still offers an immersive (or is that “submersive”) three-dimensional environment to complement the astounding visuals.The Extras **½
The only on-disc extra is the featurette Filming IMAX: Under the Sea (7:17). It is a promotional featurette that mixes in some behind the scenes information with the expected mild hype for the film. It is presented in 16:9 enhanced video with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound. Footage consists of film clips, behind the scenes footage, and talking head interview segments. The most interesting footage and discussion concerns the massive underwater IMAX 3D camera and lighting rigs and the logistics associated with using them in the various exotic locations for the film. On-camera comments are offered by Executive Producer and IMAX Corporation Co-founder Graeme Ferguson, Director Howard Hall, Producer Toni Myers, and Producer Michelle Hall.Packaging
The disc is packaged in a standard Amaray-sized ECO-BOX case with no inserts.Summary ***½
IMAX: Under the Sea offers a collection of impressive underwater footage from exotic locations around Australia and the Coral Triangle with informative if sometimes dull narration from Jim Carrey. The video presentation does not do justice to the spectacular imagery of the source material due primarily to compression artifacts that become heavy during the many highly detailed scenes with moving cameras. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio fares much better, offering an immersive and dynamic mix that works well in the home viewing environment. Extras consist of a single brief featurette that is largely promotional in nature but also offers a glimpse into the production logistics of shooting this amazing IMAX footage in the film's exotic and/or remote locations.Regards,
