Oceans (2008) User Reviews

Alice in Aqualand.

[The_Fifth_Echo · 8/10 · 23 April 2010]

Disney introduces a new chapter in its nature films called "Oceans". I wanted to see the film because I wanted to be fascinated and learn more. The movie looked spectacular, I mean they looked way better than some special effects, I've seen from like Transformers, Clash of the Titans. I mean some scenes were utterly breathtaking. Its a shame some people are too busy with work to appreciate Nature's beauty. Although it looked beautiful, it was not perfect. I found that the movie didn't have too much details or informations about the Earth's Oceans and that kind of disappointed me.

Overall I found the movie beautiful and entertaining. 8.0/10

What a visual feast!

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 8 April 2012]

I like nature documentaries just as much as the next person, likewise with my sister, and I found Oceans to be visually stunning and fascinating to watch. Oceans contains the best underwater photography I have seen in a long time and the colours are so sharp and vivid. The animals are a joy, ranging to cute to menacing it was fascinating learning about them. The narration while occasionally having the odd overly-sentimental pang, is intelligently written, with a strong emotional impact with me either biting my nails or being moved by some of the events, and Pierce Brosnan's delivery of it is both inspired and understated.

Overall, fascinating and a feast visually. 9/10 Bethany Cox

No CG effect could ever replicate nature's beauty

[Eternality · 8/10 · 10 July 2010]

There is a sequence in Oceans that blows my mind. A stone crab emerges from the seabed and crawls along. Another follows. And then a few more follow. The camera then trails these creatures as they make their way to somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The stone crabs are joined by more of their own. Suddenly, in an establishing shot that continues to baffle me, the camera reveals what seems like hundreds of thousands of stone crabs in "a great big orgy". The sandy seabed that stretches for miles and miles could not have been more alive.

That is only one of a number of spectacular scenes on show. Another highly memorable sequence shows deft skill in quick cutting as hundreds of predatory birds dive headfirst into the water at startling speeds as the camera captures their assault on small fishes through above water and underwater shots. The latter is quite incredible, and eerily reminiscent of bullets ripping through the water in the Normandy beach scene of Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998).

Jacques Perrin, whose previous film credits famously include acting as the adult Toto in Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (1988), director of the excellent Oscar-nominated documentary Winged Migration (2001), and producer of Z (1969) and The Chorus (2004), now has Oceans in his resume, a documentary that explores in amazing detail what happens under the sea, bright day or still night, stormy or fine weather. The result is like nature washing over you as you drown in its unrivalled beauty. There is no gasping for air but the taking in of the vitality of life.

Oceans surprisingly works well as "a thriller". In certain sequences, Perrin opts for suspense, such as the one involving baby turtles as they evade hungry birds, making their way into the sea from the shore in their own version of Normandy. Many of them are eaten while the lucky ones try to survive in the big blue ocean. Even though collectively the turtles represent a faceless mass, we fear for each one of them because Perrin focuses on one or two of them at any one time, heightening the sense of vulnerability.

It is not surprising, however, to see Oceans preaching the ecological message. "Save the planet! Save the animals!" become the general plea for viewers to do their part in protecting their only home in this vast universe. But the plea is not as strong and specifically targeted as what is felt in The Cove (2009), the Oscar-winning documentary that secretly chronicles the slaying of hundreds of dolphins by Japanese fishermen in a hidden lagoon, and has now been controversially and unfairly labeled as "anti-Japanese".

Oceans is lightly-narrated. This is a good move as the stunning underwater cinematography is left to do all the talking, or in this context, to speak in silence to the viewer. Perrin films in cinema verite style; his camera is unbiased, objective, and unobtrusive. His use of original music by Bruno Coulais (The Chorus) is also spot on. Very often, the marrying of melody and motion (that of sea creatures) is a joy to experience, alternating between the subtle and the grandeur.

It's weird to say this but Oceans may leave your forearms bruised. Now, you may wonder why. Well, every once in a while, you might just pinch yourself to see if those beautiful imageries are really real or created with a green screen. Of course, no CG effect could ever replicate nature's beauty. Oceans shows why and that's quite something to think about.

SCORE: 8/10 (www.filmnomenon.blogspot.com) All rights reserved!

Confusion over two versions of "Oceans"

[winstonnc-1 · 29 July 2011]

It's important to note there are TWO versions of this film. Jacques Perrin's original runs 104 minutes and is narrated by Perrin in French. Disney bought the film, cut 20 minutes (much of it critical of human activity endangering the oceans and animal habitats), junked Perrin's spare narration, which lets you wonder at the sights on view, and substituted a gabby but emotionally chilly commentary by Pierce Brosnan.

Perrin's original version is not available in the US, per contract with Disney. The original is available in Europe on DVD and Blu-Ray (but unplayable on most US machines) but it seems to lack English subtitles. So you're pretty much stuck with Disney edition.

The original, however, is to my mind better and much more in line with Perrin's "Winged Migration" than the Disney version. The best that can be said for the US edition is that plays down the "humanizing" of animal life that was an annoy hallmark of Disney's True-Life Adventures of the 1950s.

This movie is a definite must-see for children of all ages.

[PWNYCNY · 10/10 · 25 April 2010]

First, if you want to watch a movie featuring incredible cinematography, this is the movie to watch. This is the movie that will cause you to ask: "How DID they get that shot?" The ocean is a big place and there's lots to photograph. The denizens of the deep are portrayed in a respectful and almost reverential manner. One scene in which one of the divers is swimming WITH a great white shark was both spectacular and emotional. This is the first movie this reviewer can recall where a great white shark is portrayed as something other than a wanton killer. The majesty of the sea creatures is awe inspiring. They deserve our protection; they must be preserved and they warrant our undivided admiration and respect. Objects for our amusement in captivity and considered a source of food, this movie shows the audience a different side of these sea creatures, a side that we rarely if ever notice or care about, but nevertheless is there. This movie is a definite must-see for children of all ages.

Visually stunning, subtle, dreamy

[chadelle · 10/10 · 5 February 2010]

Absolutely stunning. Simply the most beautiful underwater imagery I've ever seen. It's hard to remain not too affected when talking about ecology. Here, the off screen speech is quite subtle, not too naive and not boring, because sparingly used, which leaves long lapse of dreamy sequences, without a word. Technically, it's easily one of the best documentary ever made. The camera work and photography are incredible, the montage is very effective, alternating slow and fast paced sequences. The score is not too obtrusive. There is a very striking scene, which reminds me the nautical funerals of Laetitia in "Les Aventuriers" by Robert Enrico, if you see what I'm referring to, you will easily notice it, and I assure this scene will stick to your mind for days... Visually stunning, subtle, very recommended.

Much beauty, little information

[ingo_schwarze · 6/10 · 9 March 2010]

On the one hand, this movie focuses on showing the unfamiliar, the exotic, the gigantic, the violent, the frightening. Eating and being eaten is among the most frequent activities of the animals in the movie. On the other hand, many images have been selected according to the connotations and emotions they might evoke in the modern urban viewer. Often, these connotations have little to do with the animals being shown or with their behavior. For example, two converging groups of crabs on the sea-floor make you think of attacking armies, and the lonely ice bear passing a gap between two icebergs certainly won't think of a door, a door that *you* are supposed to think of as marking a choice of paths of historical importance. The common aspect of these two pervasive aspects, of the exotic and of the symbolic, is the entertaining effect on the viewer, and that's probably what the movie is ultimately aiming at.

After starting from the explicit question "what are the oceans?", almost nothing is explained, so it's somewhat misleading to call this a documentary. You learn very little about where the animals you see live, how they live, and what is important for them. You learn nothing about how marine life works as a whole, as a set of ecosystems, so the topical question remains unanswered. Even the occasional facts stated remain unexplained - e.g., you learn that most species of large whales travel distances of several thousand kilometers twice a year, but you get no idea why, let alone why some feed near the poles and others in warm waters, just to provide one typical example.

What you learn about ecology and the protection of our environment is mostly old news. Species get extinct, mankind has caused the rate of extinction to grow a lot, diversity is important for ecological stability. Pollution, global warming and industrial fishing contribute to the various problems. Sure, no doubt, but no surprise either.

The film-makers explicitly express their desire that mankind should stop, or at least reduce, the havoc it's causing to wildlife and to our environment. But somehow the style they turned their movie belies their intention. It is well-known by now that you tend to regard with respect and to protect efficiently what you really know: Intimacy is required to care, intellectual understanding is required to find the proper means. This movie gives you neither. The fascination of the exotic and the technical brilliance of the images is not enough. At best it might serve as a teaser to learn more, but that's not what usually happens. When you are shown the exotic, deliberately shown as exotic as possibly, you stare at it in wonder, then get on with your own life.

All the same, the movie is clearly worth viewing, simply for the stunning, beautiful images.

amazing

[inunoaozora · 10/10 · 7 June 2010]

Undescribable movie about wonderful creatures living in the oceans and the surroundings. This movie has superb angles, beautiful scenes, remarkable background music, and deep-meaning little messages. Watching Oceans, our feelings will be touched by the real lives of animals, the events happen to them, and what we - humans - have done to them up till now. It pictures marine life wonderfully.

Mr. Perrin surely is an outstanding director. I can feel the director's love and caring about the ocean and world environment through this movie.

I hope many people could watch this movie. I hope the DVDS are sold throughout the world, cause no doubt I will buy it and watch it again and again with my friends and families. You can also watch it with your children, to acknowledge them to the sea, to expand their horizon about earth, and to give them 'something' that can make them show better care for the future through doings, at least better than us now. Excellent work.

Insightful Yet Not Deep.

[anaconda-40658 · 6/10 · 19 December 2015]

Oceans (2009): Dir: Jacquacs Cluzaud, Jacquacs Perrin / Narration: Pierce Brosnan: The question is poised during the opening moments of this fetching documentary, "What is the Ocean?" We begins with a group of boys staring out at the lush wonders before we are taken deeper. Filmmakers Jacquacs Cluzaud and Jacquacs Perrin do a fine job at taking viewers beneath the surface as dolphins playfully leap and dive in union. Crabs crawls about the oceans bottom. Various whales are shown including the humpback whale, orcas, beluga, and the biggest of all, the blue whale which we're told is as long as a half block and weighs 120 tons. We witness sea lions frantically struggle to escape the gaping jaws of great white sharks. Plus we are subjected to polar bears on the Arctic surface. It all began with Earth, an excellent documentary by Disney that seems to inspired many animal related theme movies. Unfortunately Oceans lacks the effective narrative storytelling that Earth presented. Oceans has breathtaking scenery of great shots of wildlife but without the narrative structure it is nothing more than a pleasant view. That ranks it perhaps the weakest entry in this promising franchise yet still worthy viewing for families. This is fine viewing for anyone interested in marine wildlife but much of it was already referenced in Earth. The two can easily double bill. Score: 6 ½ / 10

Amazing imagery of the Oceans

[Freycinet · 10/10 · 10 February 2010]

This movie enthralls you with the most amazing footage ever captured of the oceans that surround us. The commentary is minimalist, mainly a celebration of the diversity of ocean life, though with a warning at the end: we might be destroying much of that ocean life.

There is hardly any narrative, just as there wasn't in Perrins earlier "Winged Migration", but the succession of scenes is well-crafted and breaks in tempo make for a viewing experience with no dull moments whatsoever. The incredible imagery amply assures that.

Cutting-edge camera technology was used for the movie. Remote-controlled electric helicopters hovering over hump-back whales, cameras dragged by speed boats zoom along with fast-swimming sardines and helicopters brave terrible, stormy weather to capture mesmerizing footage of ships crashing through huge waves.

Not to be missed.

Great style, but very little substance.

[grantss · 6/10 · 4 August 2015]

Great style, but very little substance. The images of underwater scenes and wildlife are amazing, and you can only begin to imagine the efforts it took to capture the footage. Apparently the footage was captured over four years, and you can see why it took so long.

However, the narration is flat, and empty. Pierce Brosnan's voice just seems wrong for the movie: dull, tired. Other than when identifying the animals, the narration is not very informative and quite pointless - full of trite, empty comments. David Attenborough this is not.

The producers could have done a better job by turning the footage over to National Geographic or The Discovery Channel.

Still, it is worth watching. Just sit back and take in the images of the amazing creatures of the sea.

Stunning, without being too political

[rianty-wahab · 9/10 · 2 May 2010]

This is the kind of documentary movie you want to watch it in the theater.. don't wait for DVD, watch it NOW while it's still in theater. Just relax, enjoy breathtaking view, free yourself from Hollywood special effects or thinking too much about why the plot is so stupid. I recommend front seat than back seat so you can feel 'immersed' into the ocean. I like this movie because 1)the camera work is amazing 2) it covers almost every part of the world's ocean; from Artic, Galapagos, to small but high diversity place in Indonesia sea. 3)It's not over-narrated, nor highly political ambitious. Even tough the narration is less informative and sounds a bit strange because it is translated from French, but I believe the stunning visual needs less speech. I saw few kids not really enjoying the movie and left before it's over, probably because it's too sleepy for them, but hey, your kids can experienced more than Hollywood bullshit for a while.

Lovely cinematography but not the most coherent message.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 19 November 2016]

The cinematography of "Oceans" is lovely--much the sort of thing you see in "Earth" and the other David Attenborough films. In other words, this French film is simply gorgeous and offers breathtaking scene after breathtaking scene. You cannot help but admire it. Is this saying it's a must-see or brilliant film? No. While the film looks absolutely stunning and the English language version very soothing thanks to the lovely narration by Pierce Brosnan, it's also a bit of a confusing film. After all, there really doesn't seem to be any real coherent theme to all the clips other than 'we should make sure to save these critters'. So, it bounces from one creature to another but there's really no segue or reason to it other than they live in the oceans. Had they stuck only with sea mammals or fishes it would have made some more sense but the choices of which animals to feature just seemed random. Enjoyable to watch despite all this.

Not what I expected

[crystal_giraffe · 3/10 · 4 July 2017]

Before I watched this film, I assumed that it would be similar to a nature show on BBC or the Discovery Channel. Indeed, much of the film looks like it belongs in a standard nature documentary. However, the narration is unlike anything I've ever encountered in a nature documentary before. It's more "artsy" than scientific. For me, the impressive shots of ocean animals that fill the film were ruined by vacuous narration.

If you want beautiful imagery accompanied by narration that describes how gorgeous what you're seeing is, this film is for you. If you want to see a documentary about ocean wildlife, look elsewhere.

A Nutshell Review: Oceans

[DICK STEEL · 8/10 · 15 July 2010]

Making its world premiere at last year's Tokyo International Film Festival, Oceans is the latest enviro-documentary to hit the big screens, highlighting that while outer space is touted as the final frontier to be conquered by man, the waters around our land mass hold just as much fascination with the countless of species available in the depths of the ocean. Oceans, by directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud, provide us that glimpse 20,000 leagues under the sea.

For those, like me, who are absolutely clueless about the sea creatures other than what can be put on the dining table, you'll be left quite flabbergasted as you observe the various species being featured on screen, without any prompt or subtitle to label just exactly what creature they are. Of course for those who are schooled by Finding Nemo, you're likely to be able to name some of what's featured, just as the noisy young boy sitting beside me was able to, being somewhat of a help.

Aside from the usual gorgeous cinematography featuring schools of dolphins in motion, and plenty of synchronized swimming, with creatures big and small ranging from the giant whales to the newly hatched turtles struggling to make it to the waters before being picked up mercilessly by their predators, this is one documentary that allows you to go up close to these creatures since cameras were planted into the depths of all the oceans of the world.

It doesn't come across as preachy, because it doesn't wear its ecological badge in such an obvious manner at all in its sparse narrative. Instead, it does so very subtly, reminding us that there are others with whom we share this Earth with, and if we continue to plunder and pollute the land and treat the sea as sewage (so is that gaping hole capped by BP already?), then these are the creatures that we will lose in the near future, causing a major upset in the balance of Nature, and who can predict how Nature's wrath will be incurred back on us.

Nature documentaries are no longer made for the small screen, but have some mighty budget to be able to bring quality to the making of such films, serving to entertain and to capture beauty so rarely seen.

A visually dreamy and stimulating trip through the beauty, fragility, and power of the ocean

[diac228 · 10/10 · 23 April 2010]

The masterpiece mini-series Planet Earth ushered a new era of technology and technique of film-making in the world of animal and life-based documentaries. After years of effort and a much heavier budget than your average documentary, Planet Earth set the benchmark for cinematographers and any programming about animals for years to come. Disney enters the mix by attempting to revive the Real-Life Adventure series that delivered Walt Disney multiple Academy Awards and also put the company on the map on yet another type of entertainment. Earth was Disney's first new-generation foray into family-appealing documentaries. Well, this Earth Day we receive what just might become the greatest work of documentary since Planet Earth years upon years ago. Four years in the making, Oceans contains some of the best footage ever displayed on the big screen. While it doesn't educate much in the sense of Planet Earth, the dazzling footage more than makes up for the lack of facts.

In Oceans, we follow the five different oceans of the world and the animals that inhabit it and maneuver around them. Narrated by Pierce Brosnan, the film flows from one creature to another with a backdrop of soothing European instrumental music supporting the images. You'll see the usual lovely whales, dolphins, seals, walruses, but then see creatures rarely before (sometimes never before) seen on film: including blue whales, sheep fish, and much more. Over 50 different locations were used in the filming of this documentary, with some locations obviously requiring weeks to months of patience to deliver the right footage.

Money Shot is a slang term in film which describes a difficult-to-create sequence that tries to sell the film. Let's just say that Oceans has at least a dozen of those. Some things displayed on screen are so magnificent, so beautiful, so mesmerizing, you almost question the authenticity of it all. The cynic in me finds it sometimes hard to believe that the French filmmakers and cinematographers were able to capture footage of whales, sharks, dolphins, and birds all feeding on the same schools of fish at the same time; or come up with footage of dozens of dolphins leaping out of the water and flipping multiple times before landing again. Or even thousands of crabs fighting against each other in the bottom of the ocean. These are just small examples of the incredible moments of nature that you get to see throughout the too-short 85 minutes. There are other examples but I refuse to reveal for the sake of not spoiling; let's just say there's a sequence involving a deadly storm and its capabilities.

In order to fully appreciate and receive the full entertainment value of this beautiful display of nature, you must see it on the big screen. Unlike the previous Disneymentary Earth, Oceans flows very well, is edited much tighter, and doesn't jump all over the place. Then there's the superior soundtrack, superior narration, and superior amount of footage. They range from fearsome, to beautiful; to sometimes even sentimental (the scene with the walrus will water your eyes). Walt Disney would be absolutely proud of this work, even if technically Disney wasn't responsible for the actual film. The overseas team headed by Jacques Perrin (responsible for Winged Migration) deserves all the credit for the effort given and the result.

Bottom Line: Oceans may be a movie merely displaying the beauty of the oceans and what lies underneath, but this film is far too gorgeous for you to avoid. If you have any affection towards nature and the millions of stories carried underneath it, you must see this movie while it has its short run in movie theaters nationwide. The footage is amazing, the images are spectacular, and the overall production is nearly flawless. It is a beautiful documentary for the ages, and hopefully will pave the way for more films with as much effort as this one. With four years to craft the quintessential film about animals, this all paid off magnificently. If you love animals, watching this is a major requirement, not even a recommendation.

Enjoy the movie. Save the oceans.

Cannot Hold A Candle To BBC's "Deep Blue"

[vlevensonnd-1 · 21 November 2010]

I was looking forward to seeing this, since I've always been a fan of quality nature films, however, I found myself very disappointed with this film. If you have ever seen the truly beautiful, artistic, and utterly poetic nature film "Deep Blue", which came out from the English a few years ago, you are going to see far too many ironic similarities in this Disney production. Yes, they are both ocean films, and there are bound to be similarities, of course, but you will notice that Disney seemed to follow far too closely in their footsteps, even down to whom they chose to narrate (Pierce Brosnan)!! There are several actors one can choose to do a compelling narration - you do not have to choose the very same one. I'm not sure I understand why a company like Disney, who once were the masters of imagination, uniqueness, & fantasy, fail so miserably over these past 2 decades. Also, this film had approximately 1/4 of what "Deep Blue" had. If you want to watch a truly remarkable ocean film, see "Deep Blue", and pass over this one.

Confused...

[michael21289 · 6/10 · 3 May 2010]

First off, if you've seen any nature documentary before, this is more of the same with fancy camera work and Pierce Brosnan. On top of that, I don't even think you can call this a 'nature' documentary because so much of it is unnatural.

SPOILERS START NOW It occurred to me that there was CGI in this documentary (...) when the camera zooms out from the ocean and into space to view a satellite, which looks very convincing. Then I asked myself, if that sequence looks so good and is obviously CGI, how much more is there that I missed? The entire thing could have been CGI for all I know.

And the sound... Another obvious point is that the sounds that some of these animals make are clearly not what was filmed. I've heard animals before and they do not sound like how they sound in the movie.

Another thing that bugged me about this movie was the fact that the film makers couldn't make up their minds as to what kind of movie they want to make. Is it celebrating life in the ocean or is it a conservation awareness film? In my opinion, the two don't mix in the same movie. It's like celebrating something while patronizing it at the same time.

END SPOILERS But then it occurred to me; I was viewing this film the wrong way. The point of this movie is to show kids the wonderful diversity of life in the oceans while raising awareness what's being done to them in a way thats entertaining and nice looking. So I have mixed feelings about it, but I think it gets the job done.

Beauties of the Deep

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 30 October 2010]

"Oceans" qualifies as a visual spectacle of the sea and its zillions of inhabitants in all shapes, sizes, and colors serving one purpose or another and sometimes winding up as the snack of a bigger occupant. The scenes of the baby sea turtles scrambling in broad daylight across the sands only to be snatched up by the frigate birds; the scenes of the dolphins feeding on an underwater tapestry of tuna along with other predators, like birds, participating in the feast; and the scenes of stone fish sucking absent-minded damsel fish down makes this documentary, narrated by Pierce Brosnan, a hypnotic experience. Clocking in at 84 minutes, co-directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud make this documentary experience of marine life an interesting aquatic epic. Everything boils down to a confrontation between other species and the film breaks down into a series of stories about encounters. The cinematography is terrific. The scene of opposing armies of spider crabs marching toward each other in a frontal assault almost looks like the spiders in "Starship Troopers." The monstrously huge blue whales sliding through the depths of the deep are poetic. Shots of penguins lunge up out of the ocean through cracks in the ice still look just as fresh and exciting as they did before in other documentaries. Eventually, Perrin and Cluzaud cannot resist the temptation to make a statement about human pollution of the ocean. Satellites photograph the path of pollution from the rivers into the ocean.

"Oceans" is great to look at, but it is designed as a generalist form of entertainment. Indeed, the visuals overshadow the narrative, despite Pierce Brosnan evocative line readings. For the record, Perrin and Cluzaud spent four years lensing this atmospheric homage to the sea.

Very interesting topic but very boring

[SilverOrlov · 6/10 · 11 November 2018]

No matter how beautiful the whole thing in this film is, in the deathly silence with a few meager cues for almost two hours, no patience is enough without periodic rewinding.

Spellbinding visual documentary.

[MovieGuy109 · 8/10 · 29 November 2011]

Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud direct this documentary about marine life with beautiful images of underwater life. You may see something like this on the National Geographic channel, which downgrades the originality of the picture but Brosnan provides excellent narration and these kind of images never die in our minds and it is always lovely to see them again. The nature curious will certainly find something to love and others should to. It's a relaxing meditation and is perfect for kids or adults. The best part is that the film remains a humble length and resists growing ploys for self-indulgence. Only the unnecessary prologue narrative is a bit annoying. Other than that, a bulls eye.

Good movie but lacking in focus and structure

[PeterRoeder · 7/10 · 5 February 2011]

Great movie with some stunning imagery from the oceans, but, like other reviewers have pointed out, why do we have to see all the sentimental stuff? It didn't help the narrative. The ocean is about the ocean. We go in to see a movie about the ocean. Period. There was a lot of stuff in this movie that was not related to that subject. The beauty of documentarism is precisely that it is different from fiction, therefore I find it lacking in focus to use actors to get a point across. Actors belong in the theater and fictitious movies. But the imagery from the ocean was great. It was just a bit hard to enjoy when, at any moment, they might cut to something else. Anyway, pretty good movie, with some really amazing stuff from the sea.

One of the best documentary ever!

[eva-beghin · 10/10 · 7 September 2012]

I have been to see this moovie yesterday on a Summer Open air cinema just in the coast of Barcelona in Spain.

It has been wonderful to see this moovie with the sea background and it suggested us a lot of inspiration and moments of wisher. It's marvelous on this days that there is a moovie production oriented to this type of topics that suggested us to take care of ourselves and our environment by giving us the advise we can learn to start thinking in a positive way, from one to one, for really change the current status of things. I always think on a quote H.P. Lovecraft, "The White Ship". "But more wonderful than the lore of old men and the lore of books is the secret lore of ocean".

Beo el film. Peró non ghemo mia capío na roba. Aa fine, i pési...scorexei?

Gorgeous but not very cohesive

[eddax · 7/10 · 7 September 2010]

Oceans, though a documentary, is also quite a typical French movie in that it is confounding, since the French seem to celebrate the abstract. My reaction at the end of a few French movies has been "WTF."

I initially expected this to be an ecological "save our oceans" movies, but the first half of the movie played more like a "mysteries of the ocean" visual extravaganza in which they showed many creatures and sights I'd never seen before. Gorgeous.

All of a sudden it switches to highlighting the cruelty of man, with many bloody scenes such as live sharks having their fins cut off and being tossed back into the ocean to starve to death. And then it concludes with the expected "save our oceans" spiel, which I have to say is a whole lot less interesting than the rest of the movie. And not very motivating either. At the end of An Inconvenient Truth, I felt like I had to go out to do something to help save the world (I didn't but still), whereas Oceans left me mostly apathetic.

What this movie feels like is a string of visually spectacular clips of marine life, tied together as best they could by its directors into a barely-cohesive documentary. Its messages come across as incidental and unavoidable: "Well since we have these gory/sad clips anyway and since all documentaries about nature have to chastise humans."

It's not a bad watch if you're into nature documentaries but you're ambivalent, you might as well stay home and watch The Discovery Channel.

Is it real or is it CGI? .

[lite_fuzz · 4/10 · 20 March 2011]

An earlier review made me chuckle: "...every once in a while, you might just pinch yourself to see if those beautiful images are really real or created with a green screen. Of course, no CG effect could ever replicate nature's beauty."

Tell that to the 57 crew for the film credited with one of the following: -digital artist -digital compositor -digital effects artist -head of CG environment Mikros -head of render farm -head of software -head of VFX studio -matte painter -modeling/texture artist -render farm operator -rotoscope artist -visual effect supervisor -visual effects coordinator -visual effects producer -visual effects production assistant -visual effects supervisor