Wunder der Tiefe 3D

Like others, I had very high hopes when I heard that Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet would be narrating this IMAX film, and that Danny Elfman would be doing the score. However, I was quite disappointed in those elements that attracted my attention to the movie.

The style of Winslet and Depp's narration might be fine for kids, I suppose, but I found it very irritating. Perhaps I'm brainwashed by decades of authoritative-sounding old men with big voices narrating nature documentaries, but I don't think that's all it is. The narration style here is just silly. And not in a good way (although the way Winslet and Depp voiced the exchange I used as the title of my review did provoke plenty of unintentional(?) laughter, and my girlfriend and I still quote the lines occasionally).

Danny Elfman's score, while not outright bad like the narration, did strike me as overwrought and corny (again, I suppose it's fine if viewed as intended only for young children).

And as another reviewer has also noted, the foley was really over the top in this documentary. The fake squealing vocalizations of the sea creatures was particularly irksome and inappropriate.

The film is still worth watching for the amazing underwater footage, but shots intended to be seen in IMAX 3D don't have the same overwhelming impact on the TV screen.

Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet provide very pleasant narration for this IMAX film which I watched on DVD. At home, it is not in 3-D. However that did not detract at all.

The movie is not a 40-minute story, but instead is several episodes covering different, interesting parts of life in our seas. The photography is in beautiful color.

My personal favorite was the story about the California Mantis Shrimp. It is about 10 inches long, very colorful, lives in a burrow, but in the water moves much like a cartoon figure in superb digital animation. But this shrimp is real. It has fast, powerful legs that strike a blow similar to a 22 rifle shot, to crack open shells. But we also get to see an octopus trying to invade this shrimp's territory, and the shrimp is one cool customer, chasing him away with a few choice strikes.

Overall a very fine film, worth a viewing or two.

This is a good documentary and the shots and coverage of the deep ocean is quite pleasing(and harrowing in places). However, with the advent of instant access to so much content, there isn't anything here that you won't find in better resolution on Netflix or Amazon. Still, if you enjoy documentaries or have even the slightest of fascination with sea life I feel you can spend an hour and some time with Deep Sea.

Deep Sea is the latest joy to be released in IMAX but part of its excellence comes, as so often, from being presented in IMAX 3D. All films should be released in this format, it's the true way forward for cinema. Even The Polar Express was good in IMAX!

Deep Sea is a 40 minute documentary feature that makes the most of its 3D. From the opening shot of a wave headed straight out of the screen to jellyfish fields, giant sea turtles and octopus and a legion of fish varieties and stunning underwater seascapes it does present the world it shows in rarely seen way.

It is only let down by the talking down, over-humanisation of the narration aimed at the kids in the audience, especially from Kate Winslet. Johnny Deppp works better but Winslet sounds like a school-marm talking to a class of four year olds. And the narration has an annoying habit, ala March Of The Penguins, of endowing the animals with human traits to make them easier to associate with for childish minds.

David Attenborough and the BBC make better documentaries as a whole production but you can't fault Deep Sea 3D's visuals and the immersion experience the IMAX format provides. See it for the experience. It is like nothing you've experienced before, the narration really is only a minor annoyance.

This was a great movie experience. A major part of this was the 3D effect.

My children were frequently reaching out in front of them. To be honest I wanted to do so as well.

The visuals would be great even if they were not in 3d.

There was a lot of good information on the biology of the ocean.

Most of the film consisted of one creature eating another. My four year old seemed to be OK with it though.

Cool!

A nit: At times there was bleed-through on the polarized 3d glasses. I don't know if that was due to the glasses or a general side-effect.