This wildlife opera directed by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud of Winged Migration fame is an easy movie to underestimate. Now that most of the world has gone nuts for Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth and Life series, it might seem like there would be no way to put a new spin on showing animals in their natural habitats, but this misconception works wonders for the movie. Not only do they show bizarre creatures I’ve never seen before like the narwhal, the unicorn of the sea, but the editing and creativity that goes into tying all of the short stories together is quite spectacular. Another subliminal treat the film offers comes with the realization of why these images feel so fresh; the techniques the filmmakers used to capture these private moments didn’t exist before because this is the first time this technology has been available.
Now if you started to nod off during those first paragraphs, there’s a good chance the same thing will happen in the theater. Oceans is similar to Fantasia in its amazing visuals set to a wonderful orchestral score, but it has the power to bore the snot out of certain types of kids, which was made ever-so-clear to me by the little boy sitting to my left who would groan quite loudly whenever the movie got quiet. He constantly rocked back and forth in his chair while using his finger to make a popping noise with his mouth. Another possible outcome could be your child’s resemblance to the little girl sitting on my right who couldn’t help but narrate the movie for her parents and yell out the name of every animal that came up on screen. To her credit, Pierce Brosnan’s narration is almost too soothing, so there may have been a chance she was doing it simply to stay awake.
Look, I can throw facts at you; it took seven years to make and at one point, a crew spent 190 days straight trying to capture never-before-seen footage of a blue whale feeding on krill, but it still won’t matter because to some, this movie isn’t about anything.
“What’s the big deal? A guy dropped a camera under water for four years, edited it for two, and then got a celebrity to narrate it? Sounds like a waste of time to me.”
But for those with an inquisitive mind who are fascinated by the world around us and could spend all day at the zoo being captivated, this is the perfect popcorn film – except in this case all of the insane special effects are real.
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I saw the Oceans movie yesterday and was so thrilled with the cinematography, as was my guest who commented also on the spectacular photography.
Oceans is a beautiful G-rated family movie. There were families with their children who seemed enthralled as we were with the amazing closeups of the richness of life that the oceans offer us.
The sparse, narration did not detract from the movie, but allowed you to just watch and enjoy the film for what it was and you do get caught up in the swimming and movement of so many of the ocean's inhabitants.
The filming of the whales was breathtaking. If you love nature movies with the thrill of seeing whales (dolphins,sailfish, sea otters, sharks, etc.) upclose swimming and frolicing, but also gently being reminded that we need to take care of our planet and oceans, then this movie is for you.
I recommend this movie for everyone. Our company observed a fussing 4 year old child calm right down once the movie began and got caught up like everyone else in the breath taking photography. Oceans is an impressive movie with the cinematography and photographic close ups of such a vast array of sea life.
The photography was excellent and there were many unique up-close shots I had not previously seen in other ocean documentaries. The movie covers a broad spectrum of sea life and the filming of whales was magnificent.
Unfortunately, the movie blatantly pushes and evolutionary philosophy and a makes bold comments throughout the movie teaching micro evolution as fact. It was rather frustrating that Disney felt the need to include such comments when this subject is still widely debated by many respected scientist. Not only were evolutionary comments made with respect to the sea life, but also with respect to humans, making comments such as, we study the ocean to learn more about where we come from. Although a small percentage of the commentary teaches an evolutionary agenda, it was blatant enough to frustrate me throughout the whole movie.
Since the movie is intended for young viewers, who in many cases don’t have the ability to investigate both sides of the evolutionary debate, it was shocking that Disney would use this film to push an agenda. Rather, this type of documentary should provide an unbiased commentary that focused on the widely accepted factual information about the ocean and ocean life.
I would recommend this movie to anyone who holds a macro evolutionary position. However, I would also recommend that anyone who believes that the human race has been fashioned and placed on earth by a creator would either reconsider watching and/or taking their children to support the movie and/or at least wait until it comes out on tape. Planet Earth is great alternative to Oceans that does not blatantly push an agenda and in my opinion on many respects provides better overall photography and film of the ocean.
I moved to a country in the Pacific, from St. Louis, and have witnessed that ocean daily, for 39 years now. The film, "Oceans" does relay how beautiful this water planet can look, and the wonderful sea life that lives in it.
I continue to love the cinematography, providing us with some of the best visuals of ocean fauna ever. I did wonder where the person with the camera was.
Where the film grates is the commentary, narrative and editing. There was no sense of continuity of sea processes, beyond fleeting references to pollution. There was the old "Endless Bounty of the Sea....." aura about it that completely overlooked massive pollution, climate change, endangered species, and catastrophic over-fishing. For reality, watch "The Cove", about dolphin slaughter in Japan's Taiji Cove. and "The End of the Line" about worldwide over-fishing which is endangering all fish species. Go online to International websites opposing whaling. And don't for one moment think codfish disappeared of their own volition.
This film looked beautiful. But it missed the chance to do something positive to save the waters it celebrates.
It's time to make films like this with informative commentary, not saccharin poetry.
And, yes, Mr. Gross, evolution is the universally accepted by intelligent people worldwide.
Auckland, NZ
I moved to a country in the Pacific, from St. Louis, and have witnessed that ocean daily, for 39 years now. The film, "Oceans" does relay how beautiful this water planet can look, and the wonderful sea life that lives in it.
I continue to love the cinematography, providing us with some of the best visuals of ocean fauna ever. I did wonder where the person with the camera was.
Where the film grates is the commentary, narrative and editing. There was no sense of continuity of sea processes, beyond fleeting references to pollution. There was the old "Endless Bounty of the Sea....." aura about it that completely overlooked massive pollution, climate change, endangered species, and catastrophic over-fishing. For reality, watch "The Cove", about dolphin slaughter in Japan's Taiji Cove. and "The End of the Line" about worldwide over-fishing which is endangering all fish species. Go online to International websites opposing whaling. And don't for one moment think codfish disappeared of their own volition.
This film looked beautiful. But it missed the chance to do something positive to save the waters it celebrates.
It's time to make films like this with informative commentary, not saccharin poetry.
And, yes, Mr. Gross, evolution is universally accepted by intelligent people worldwide.
Auckland, NZ
What a horror show!! While the beginning of this movie was beautiful and enjoyable. Once you get to the part when the whale eats the baby seal, however, If your watching with children it gets pretty ugly! I thought it was a kid friendly, movie about ocean animals and their habitat, I didn't think Disney would be so gross as to put in such thing's especially when it seems to be geared toward kids. I had to shut it off shortly after this part because my 5 year old was mortified. Really disappointed, Even at 29 years old i don't want to be seeing a baby seal eaten by anything!
No one can refute the beauty and splendor of Oceans. We have all said that, Disney has said that, every awards show has said that. Fine, as long as the mute button is on. The scriptwriter ought to be shot and Pierce Bronson needs to suffer as well. The lack of continuity and touchy feely ad nauseum was beyond the pale. When I got to the point of throwing things at the screen and yelling "you're killing me," I turned off the sound. "There, that's better. Oh my gosh, look at that! Wow, isn't that amazing?" Be forewarned.
Stella: Urk. Look in your back yard, save the critters there, then go to the SEA and don't pollute it or drag dolphins out of it.
ruth: Yes. The creatures are astounding. Now we need to stop deep sea dredging, over-fishing of everything (toothfish=Chilean deep sea bass, Blue-fin tuna, Orange Roughy, etc), and pollution by ocean-going vessels. Also, what do vibrations from naval vessels and oceanic container ships DO to sentient sea species (almost all of them!) Consider not eating fish. Definitely never tunal.
Cheers to the next intelligent movie, and thanks for the blue whales. kate