Into the Deep

I'm definitely at odds with the other 30 reviewers, all male, who weighted this film's rating to a 4.9 to date. It's been several years since viewing, but I recall going back twice for the 3D sense it gave me of looking in on the lives of the "little" guys underwater. No, not terrifying great white sharks...the most "terrifying" scene is of a giant sun-fish sweeping down on other, tiny starfish, and their valiant attempts to flee. I laughed with the kids in the audience and put out my hand to "touch" the waving kelp that appeared to be just in front of my neighbour's head.

Of course, if years of Hollywood blockbusters has conditioned you to want big thunder and big blood, and you really can't stomach small wonders, don't bother with this...it's not for you. It's for kids at heart.

At first it looks like an underwater IMAX 3-D film, but then it turns into something awful! Though it is in 3-D, the picture quality (as in 3-D quality too) is kinda bad. The whole movie starts out good (C+ average) and then just flops by stuff an average person won't know by time they die! If you like all IMAX 3-D films go and see it. If you don't then don't waste your $7 on it.

Grade Average: D+

I am a professional dive instructor (PADI IDC Staff Instructor #233440)) who, for years, taught at Santa Catalina Island, just off the California coast. One of my favorite remembrances as a dive instructor was to enter the Casino Point Dive Park in Avalon. Just a few feet off the entry point was a kelp forest. I enjoyed hovering weightlessly in the waves, swaying with the kelp, watching fish move in and out.

The human eye sees so much more than the camera can pick up. I was mesmerized by the light that filtered through the kelp forest. The Garibaldi, the California state fish, would wait for us and circle us as we entered the water. Many of my peers took small bags of frozen peas to feed them. Schools of them would circle us and watch us... just in case we brought munchies. In the afternoon around 2pm, fish would "park" for what looked like nap time in the kelp. Night dives was truly another world.

I watched sun stars move along he sandy bottom off of Monterey, CA. I played (cautiously) with the jelly fish that "invaded" one of my open water classes there. How in the world can they actually be alive? Beats me. How do brittle stars know to run in panic? How can they panic if their brains are so small? I've been diving with sharks, and they didn't bother me, but the Moray eel, who opens his mouth to breathe can look fearsome and caused me give them a respectful, wide berth.

No, this movie doesn't have shipwrecks or chase scenes. It's real. It approaches things gently,answering the curious questions of a wide-eyed child. I enjoy it because it's real. It brings back memories. This is what it's really like. It's quiet... and incredibly beautiful. It's peaceful. Breathe deeply and slowly... and feel the waves. Imagine yourself weightless.

It'll change you.

I don't know what film some of the other reviewers have seen, but I've been to multiple IMAX theatres just to see "Into The Deep." The 3-D effects are excellent, as is the footage and the narration. You'd never think watching the short, happy lives of squid, waving kelp forests, or plankton floating by your eyes would be quite so mesmerising---but the filmmakers really pull it off. 9/10.

Seen it at Edwards 21 Cinemas, Irvine Spectrum, Irvine, California, U. S. A., August 11, 1997.

Outstanding IMAX theater with huge 1.43:1 screen, 1570 GT film projector and 6-channel surround sound system (1997).

My very first IMAX experience.

Awesome!