Océans

Another great achievement from Walt Disney Studios. I had loved Earth, their outstanding documentary from last year and thus eagerly anticipated this film. If you are going to see one movie this year make it Oceans. This is why we go to the movies. An absolutely fascinating, breath taking, thrilling experience for the whole family. Seven tenths of our earth is ocean and even in this age of advanced technology there is still so much we don't know about the silent world beneath the waves. This movie bravely tackles that mystery. It makes us realize how in many ways us humans are so small and insignificant in the scheme of things, we only share three tenths of the earth. I love the part where they show the sea lions and animals feasting on each other (a dog eat dog world ha ha). The two parts of the movie that stood out for me are the ones involving our foolishness in polluting the ocean and killing its creatures (they even show it from space) and the shot at the end of the diver and the great white shark swimming together. Narrator Pierce Brosnan makes an eloquent speech about the importance of man and animals co existing together. I consider Oceans to be the best film I have seen this year and hopefully they will remember it at Oscar time!

Disney introduces a new chapter in its nature films called "Oceans". I wanted to see the film because I wanted to be fascinated and learn more. The movie looked spectacular, I mean they looked way better than some special effects, I've seen from like Transformers, Clash of the Titans. I mean some scenes were utterly breathtaking. Its a shame some people are too busy with work to appreciate Nature's beauty. Although it looked beautiful, it was not perfect. I found that the movie didn't have too much details or informations about the Earth's Oceans and that kind of disappointed me.

Overall I found the movie beautiful and entertaining. 8.0/10

I like nature documentaries just as much as the next person, likewise with my sister, and I found Oceans to be visually stunning and fascinating to watch. Oceans contains the best underwater photography I have seen in a long time and the colours are so sharp and vivid. The animals are a joy, ranging to cute to menacing it was fascinating learning about them. The narration while occasionally having the odd overly-sentimental pang, is intelligently written, with a strong emotional impact with me either biting my nails or being moved by some of the events, and Pierce Brosnan's delivery of it is both inspired and understated.

Overall, fascinating and a feast visually. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Absolutely stunning. Simply the most beautiful underwater imagery I've ever seen. It's hard to remain not too affected when talking about ecology. Here, the off screen speech is quite subtle, not too naive and not boring, because sparingly used, which leaves long lapse of dreamy sequences, without a word. Technically, it's easily one of the best documentary ever made. The camera work and photography are incredible, the montage is very effective, alternating slow and fast paced sequences. The score is not too obtrusive. There is a very striking scene, which reminds me the nautical funerals of Laetitia in "Les Aventuriers" by Robert Enrico, if you see what I'm referring to, you will easily notice it, and I assure this scene will stick to your mind for days... Visually stunning, subtle, very recommended.

It's important to note there are TWO versions of this film. Jacques Perrin's original runs 104 minutes and is narrated by Perrin in French. Disney bought the film, cut 20 minutes (much of it critical of human activity endangering the oceans and animal habitats), junked Perrin's spare narration, which lets you wonder at the sights on view, and substituted a gabby but emotionally chilly commentary by Pierce Brosnan.

Perrin's original version is not available in the US, per contract with Disney. The original is available in Europe on DVD and Blu-Ray (but unplayable on most US machines) but it seems to lack English subtitles. So you're pretty much stuck with Disney edition.

The original, however, is to my mind better and much more in line with Perrin's "Winged Migration" than the Disney version. The best that can be said for the US edition is that plays down the "humanizing" of animal life that was an annoy hallmark of Disney's True-Life Adventures of the 1950s.