Deep Blue

Reading some of the previous comments I feel that I must have been watching a different Deep Blue. Although i found some of the visuals stunning i felt that much of it was appalling. Some of the 'out of water'shots looked horrible, reminded me of watching games on a Commodore 64!!! As some others have said, much of this footage has been seen before, so i really didn't see the point of this movie. The musical score was good and it did match the footage well. If sea life is your thing, I would recommend the Blue Planet. Note of interest: did anybody else actually find some of the footage very poor. I watched on a widescreen LCD (brand new), so perhaps the poor quality arose because of the screen size.

Liked "Winged Migration" and "Microcosmos," "Deep Blue" is a big-screen nature documentary patiently filmed over a period of years. As "Winged Migration" concentrated on the creatures of the air, so "Deep Blue" focuses on creatures of the sea. Reminding us how little we have explored the liquid space of our own oceans, the images here can be beautiful and graceful (dolphins playing in the surf), humorous (a mass of crabs laying eggs on the sand) as well as grim and deadly (killer whales attacking and eating seal pups). The moments of beauty are poignant indeed, and "Deep Blue" has it's share of "wow" moments. It divides itself into various themes; the shallows, the shoreline, the open seas, the polar seas, and the deep. The latter is shot near the deepest places on earth, and several creatures never before photographed are displayed in all their bioluminescent glory. The penguins shooting out of the ocean like biological missiles is quite amazing, and the feeding frenzy of the sharks is terrifying. Michael Gambon's narration is rarely intrusive, but it isn't as informative as I would have liked; they could have used some graphics to at least give you an idea of what creatures you were seeing, or where the shots were located. Still, this is a beautiful film, much of which was filmed for the "Blue Planet" BBC series. It looks frightfully gorgeous on the big screen, although parents should be warned that the seal pup death scenes can be terrifying to younger or more sensitive viewers.

I had the opportunity to watch this movie during the Seattle International Film Festival, and I was amazed. I haven't seen the documentary series "Deep Blue Sea" on which it was based, so I cannot comment on how the film compares to that series. What I can say is for any of you who are interested in animal behavior above and below the ocean's surface, you will be amazed. This film has few interruptions between wonderfully paced and edited clips of animal behavior. While I had seen almost all of the animals and plant life that appear in this movie before, this gave me a new and thrilling opportunity to see their lives as the animals themselves do. You hear their voices and experience their emotions. The soundtrack kept me emotionally captivated for the entire 90 minute run time. The filmmakers don't try to narrate the behavior, but let you experience it first hand, to a thrilling effect.

However, this movie is not for the faint of heart. The filmmakers spare no detail in showing close up the threats posed to smaller sea life by larger and more voracious variations of life. With that in mind, I recommend keeping young children away from this movie. The children sitting a few rows in front of me in the theater gasped and held onto their parents during the violent scenes in the film.

If you do see this movie, make a point to do it on the biggest screen you can find, and sit as close as you can.

I have just watched three hours of the Galapagos on the National geographic Channel, and am preparing to watch 11 hours on Planet earth on Discovery. What a joy to see this film, narrated by Pierce Brosnan in between.

Fi9lmed at the deepest ocean where no light can pierce, the colors and lights that are created by the inhabitants outshine any laser show that you can imagine.

This is the wonder and beauty of our planet at its best. I cannot imagine why we have to travel to other worlds, when we have this one waiting for us.

Water makes up most of the Earth and, unlike the surface ecosystems, it is the hardest for man to explore, inhabit or bulldoze. It is the closest thing to having a different planet, except right here on Earth. As such I was looking forward to watching this film because of the excellent footage of the many amazing creatures and ecosystems that ever improving technology allow us to get closer to. I'm not really one for nature programmes so maybe that is why I was extra impressed by the film – because such stuff has not become "ordinary" to me. At the start of the film I must admit that I was watching the "ordinary"; whales, crabs and seals fitted into that category to me but once the camera went deeper into the oceans it only became more and more fascinating with such weird and wonderful creatures on display.

This goes for the shallower depths as well, as fish, whales, sharks etc are all very well presented and gorgeous to watch. Indeed that is the strength of the film – the beauty of it. It is fascinating to watch and the expertise in filming shines through from start to finish. However it is the appreciation of the view where the film is weak. Gambon's narration is sparse and even but it only occasionally gives out nuggets of information. I didn't expect detail like David Attenborough would give but it could have done with something more to compliment the visuals. The music covers the lack of narration and generally the score is well pitched to support the air of wonder or pace to the film.

Overall this is a great visual treat, even if it is mostly going to be seen on the small screen. It all looks impressive and is fascinating but a bit more narration and detail would have been useful. Best viewed as a visual experience or as an entry into the wider genre of nature programmes.