7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.6 |
Enter the fascinating world of the coral reefs and experience flora and fauna up close and in 3D. The multitude of marine species, commencing with glassy sweepers, blow- and porcupine fish, goliath groupers, giant morays, sea turtles up to the largest shark on earth, the whale shark, as well as the play of colours and the biodiversity of the corals, stony star corals, soft corals, bubble-tip anemones and gorgonian corals. Let yourself fall into a rapture of the deep. All in glorious 3D!
Director: Burkhard Neesen, René SchöpferDocumentary | 100% |
Nature | 84% |
Foreign | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 MVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1
Italian: DTS 5.1
Japanese: DTS 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Czech: Dolby Digital 5.1
Hungarian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Turkish: Dolby Digital 5.1
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Blu-ray 3D
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 2.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
In 2011, Universal dipped its toe into 3D nature documentary waters with a trio of poorly received June releases: Ocean Wonderland 3D, Dolphins and Whales 3D and Sharks 3D. Underwhelming and overpriced, with rickety video transfers and hit or miss 3D presentations, the wayward docs can still be spotted in the wild, huddled together on the shelves of Best Buys everywhere. Fast forward to 2013. Universal is pulling a repeat performance with three more generic and wholly uninspiring undersea 3D bores; not in June but in January, when fewer titles are flooding the market and ravenous shoppers are more desperate than usual. Which brings us to Amazing Ocean 3D, Fascination Coral Reef 3D, and the cumbersomely titled Fascination Coral Reef 3D: Mysterious Worlds Underwater, budget documentaries sans those pesky budget prices. And it gets worse. Rather than bundle all three together at a reasonable cost, the studio is releasing each one individually, problematic 3D video presentations and all, at a premium price. So beware: rough waters ahead...
Fascination Coral Reef 3D sinks further with a disheartening 1080p/MVC-encoded transfer and subsequent 3D presentation. Compared to Amazing Ocean, Coral Reef exhibits more obvious and persistent aliasing (going frame by frame reveals multiple instances in almost every scene), not to mention more serious banding, more disruptive macroblocking, more ringing, more noise, more pixelation, more bleeding, more missteps, more mishaps... essentially more of everything you don't want to see swimming alongside the creatures of the reef. It isn't a complete misfire, I'll admit. Colors are stronger (blues in particular), contrast is more vibrant and black levels deeper, but any improvement is offset by more crush, softness, compression blips and pulldown-like oddities. The 3D isn't any better. While some foreground elements pop now and again, so too do the technical issues. 3D aliasing et al. Depth and dimensionality are also lacking, and the image is just as prone to ghosting on displays that exhibit crosstalk, if not more so. Several scenes (far too many, truth be told) even look as if they've been ripped from an upconverted DVD. Hardly what I expect from a 1080p high definition presentation in 2013, especially one released by a major studio.
Fascination Coral Reef 3D and Fascination Coral Reef 3D: Mysterious Worlds Underwater feature near-identical DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround tracks, but that's actually a good thing. Granted, the documentaries' sound design is by no means first rate. That said, the addition of LFE output (underutilized though it may be) and rear speaker activity makes the resulting sonic experiences fuller and more satisfying. Music is by far the most refined element in the soundfield, as well as the one thing that takes advantage of the entire soundstage. Light directional effects are present, the flow and warble of the ocean is passably immersive, and there aren't any glaring issues; certainly none that are as distracting as those that plague the discs' video presentations. Narration is clear, intelligible and nicely prioritized too, despite the fact that the score is a touch domineering at times. Still, each Fascination Coral Reef lossless track is easily the highlight of its respective release, and the one redeeming aspect of each AV presentation.
Like Amazing Ocean 3D, Fascination Coral Reef 3D doesn't offer any special features.
Amazing Ocean 3D features more rewarding photography but is better suited to young children, Fascination Coral Reef 3D is more interesting but awfully dry and uneventful, and Fascination Coral Reef 3D: Mysterious Worlds Underwater strikes a better balance but struggles with dull visuals and much too routine ocean sights and sounds. All three, though, flounder with mediocre video transfers and disappointing 3D presentations, and arrive barebones, without any special features whatsoever. And all three are overpriced, when a budget-priced, three-film bundle would have been far more appealing (although nearly as underwhelming). I'd recommend skipping all three, unless a 3D sale lands the trio in the bargain bin.
2013
2012
2003
IMAX
2006
IMAX 3D
2008
2011
IMAX
2010
2013
IMAX 3D
2008
2014
IMAX
2009
2010
2010
The Original UK Series
2011
Kew 3D
2012
2010
2013
2011
2004
IMAX
2007