Product Description

Dive in! A sea full of wonders awaits. Famed oceanic filmmaker Howard Hall (Into the Deep) guides this immersive adventure that lets you swim alongside some of the most exotic creatures of the planet. Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet provide the narration. And an unusual array of finned and scaled stars are ready to steal every scene. Among them: Green Sea Turtles who gather off Kona so that Surgeonfish can strip harmful algae from their shells...an ominous, predatory Humboldt Squid that changes color four times per second like a flashing strobe light...an underdog Mantis Shrimp, whose claws have the speed of a 22-caliber bullet, in battle against a hungry octopus (the shrimp wins!). So many creatures. So many amazing stories. Sea them all.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16757 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2007-03-27
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French, Korean
• Dubbed in: French, Korean, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 41 minutes

Amazon.com
The balance of the earth's ecosystems is continually changing and no where is this more apparent than in fascinating world beneath the sea. Narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, this 41-minute IMAX film features breathtaking underwater photography from the coral reefs to the cold waters of British Columbia with a focus on underwater inhabitants, their symbiotic relationships, and the ever-shifting balance between predator and prey. While viewing this DVD on even the largest home television screen can't compare with the stories high IMAX theatre experience, underwater footage including a California mantis shrimp fighting off an octopus and a wolf eel eating a sea urchin is riveting in any venue. The footage of the mysterious once-a-year spawning of the coral reef in the Gulf of Mexico can only be described as truly amazing. Enchantment with underwater beauty gives way in the end to a chilling message about man's over-fishing of the sea and his leading role in the unraveling of the sea's delicate ecosystem. (Ages 3 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

A magical world revealed
While this film is surprisingly short and has some limitations in term of continuity, I found it utterly absorbing and watched it twice the same day. The photography is some of the most stunning marine footage I have ever seen. The filmmakers have done a superb job of capturing some of the most charismatic, sinister, and whimsical creatures that inhabit the oceans, and the information about their life cycles, while not exhaustive, was well edited to maintain interest. Highly recommended!

See in an IMAX theater; don't bother with the DVD
I was eagerly awaiting the release of this DVD, as I missed the film when it played in IMAX theaters. It boasted an impressive array of talent (including narration by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet and a score by Danny Elfman) and adoring reviews. Unfortunately, this is one of those IMAX films that doesn't survive the transition to the small, 2-D screen. Stripped of the 3-D effects and gigantic high-resolution image, it's deadly dull.

"Deep Sea" starts off strongly with a mysterious shot of ethereal jellyfish swimming in darkness. Then the next shot is of a huge grouper floating almost motionlessly, and Depp brightly tells us that "he's always hungry!" The film continues in that vein, with endless shots that were obviously staged for 3-D but appear oddly static and contrived on a television screen. The narration is utterly inane; it vacillates between PBS-style pomposities (there's the obligatory stuff about how we're devastating the ocean ecosystem) and anthropomorphic nonsense that seems to be aimed at small children. Depp manages to maintain his dignity, but Winslet comes off as condescending. Elfman's classical work "Serenada Schizophrana" is somewhat awkwardly adapted into a score that is barely audible under the narration.

Despite the phrase "deep sea" in the title, most of the film seems to be taking place about 20 feet under water. With the possible exception of a squid that changes color several times a second, there's nothing in this film that you haven't seen before.

Stunning, Even Without The 3-D
Although disappointed I couldn't see this in 3-D, as advertised on the DVD (not the one being sold here), . I still thought the photography was amazing and the colors just spectacular. I've never seen underwater footage this good. This also is the first time I've actually heard the sounds that some of these marine creatures make. I just presumed, like many others, there was mostly silence underneath the surface. That's not so; there are some amazing sounds.

More so, there are some amazing creatures that most of us have never heard about or seen. Some of them are downright weird-looking, repulsive yet fascinating. They are so strange you think you're looking at some animated film with cartoon characters.....but these creatures are real. Some of them are frightening and brutal killers.

I've read complaints about the narration by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, and have to agree on a couple points. Winslet does make an attempt to put some reflection in her voice but Depp sounds like he's sleepwalking through this. His voice is flat, a monotone, and it sounds like he's reading the material for the first time. Neither of these two add much life to his documentary.

Others complain that it's just under 40 minutes and thus, the DVD overpriced. Well, I found it very interesting and stunning to view. I wouldn't mind adding it to my collection because this is something I would watch multiple times.