7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
Imagine a world of incredible color and beauty. Of crabs wearing jellyfish for hats. Of fish disguised as frogs, stones and shag carpets. Of a kaleidoscope of underwater life. Now, go explore it! The makers of Deep Sea and Into the Deep take you into tropical waters alive with adventure: the Great Barrier Reef and other South Pacific realms.
Narrator: Jim CarreyDocumentary | 100% |
Nature | 89% |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.43:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, French, Spanish, Dutch
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
As gorgeous as they often are, as readily as they sweep audiences away to distant lands and undersea kingdoms, IMAX documentaries aren't very filling. Blame it on their limited runtimes or the all-ages nature of their productions, but it's rare that one offers much more than a snapshot of its subject matter. Under the Sea is no different. Arriving with all the usual underwater suspects in tow -- squid, mollusks, and jellyfish, oh my -- it sometimes amounts to a glorified screen saver; a soothing yet shallow introduction to the Indo-Pacific that's heavy on visual splendor, but light on actual information. Its lone saving grace is actor Jim Carrey's narration. Pithy and playful, he seems genuinely delighted by everything unfolding on screen and, more importantly, doesn't deliver a rubber-jaw reading. More Joel Barish than Ace Ventura, he manages to bring the waters of New Guinea and Southern Australia to life, even if what he has to say will strike genre regulars as exceedingly familiar.
Powerful photography keeps 'Under the Sea' afloat...
Video reviews of IMAX titles tend to boil down to "beautiful photography, haphazard encode." However, the Blu-ray edition of Under the Sea is an entirely different beast. Bubbling to the surface with a magnificent 1080p/VC-1 transfer, Hall's forty-minute film is blessed with a stunning source and a proficient presentation. The brilliant blues of the sea, the dark shadows of the ocean floor, and the blazing hues of the tangled coral beds are a sight to behold. Contrast is strong and stable, and detail is incredibly revealing. Count the delicate scales on the tiniest fish, trace the spindly veins of an underwater garden, look closely as stones scatter across the back of a reclusive stingray, watch carefully as a sea lion's whiskers bend and bristle. The image is so crisp, Hall's startling footage so cleanly rendered, that it often borders on breathtaking. Better still, I didn't detect any significant artifacting, ringing, crush, or aliasing, and banding -- ever the bane of undersea documentary transfers -- only appears on a handful of brief occasions, will be overlooked by all but the most ardent videophiles, and vanishes long before it becomes a distraction. In fact, faint, intermittent flickering is the sole issue that holds the presentation back from perfection (and even that may be inherent to the source). As it stands, I can't imagine anyone will be remotely disappointed with the results.
But wait, there's more! Under the Sea boasts an immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track; one that does justice to Hall's lively soundscape, New Guinea and Indonesia's enveloping waves, and Micky Erbe and Maribeth Solomon's diverse music. As expected, Jim Carrey's crystal clear, perfectly prioritized narration pulls the soundfield forward, sometimes bringing the sonic proceedings to a two-dimensional halt. But every time he finishes a sentence, the waters of the Indo-Pacific rush to fill each speaker. LFE output is hearty and aggressive, the rear channels are swimming with activity (both organic and orchestral), pans are fluid, and directionality is as playful as Carrey's tone. While some aspects of Hall's sound design prove to be annoying, the studio's technical mix rarely falters, lending legitimate power and presence to a short documentary that, just last year, would have been slapped with a standard Dolby Digital track. Fans will be most pleased. Kudos, Warner.
The back cover of IMAX: Under the Sea touts a laundry list of special features, but the content itself is quite underwhelming. "Filming IMAX: Under the Sea" (HD, 7 minutes) is an extended preview at best, a gushing EPK at worst, and the disc's five "Expeditions" (HD, 12 minutes) are actually short webisodes that do little more than introduce the various locales where Howard Hall and his crew shot the documentary.
Please note: while Warner's press release, online coverart, and Amazon's product listing suggest the Blu-ray edition of IMAX: Under the Sea includes both a standard DVD and Digital Copy of the film, the sealed and shrink-wrapped screener the studio sent is a single-disc release that doesn't have either.
Under the Sea doesn't bring anything new to the IMAX fold, but its Blu-ray release certainly does. While similar documentaries have been crippled by mediocre AV presentations, Warner has granted Hall's fourth underwater adventure a stunning video transfer and a satisfying DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. I'm sure documentary fans would have appreciated some more substantial special features, but anyone who picks up Under the Sea will be too entranced by their screen and speakers to care about a lackluster supplemental package. If I could only feel the same enthusiasm for the film itself...
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