This French documentary, which is released under the DisneyNature label with an English narration offered by Pierce Brosnan, plumbs the depths of the world’s oceans to provide a portrait of the aquatic world. The message of the film, however, seems to suggest that the oceans are a good looking but dull place.
To its credit, the film is rich with extraordinary cinematography – sequences with schools of jellyfish in ethereal motion and blue whales turning in balletic grace are a joy to behold.
However, the filmmakers forgot to give the film something that resembles a plot. As a result, “Oceans” aimlessly pinballs from one corner of the world to the next, where different species are given a few minutes to show off for the camera before the camera abruptly turns its gaze elsewhere. The cumulative effect is one of profound monotony – and for anyone who watches nature documentaries or has visited an aquarium or two, a great deal of the material shown here will be very familiar.
The film only vaguely hints at man’s destruction to the oceans through overfishing and pollution. (Reportedly, the original French version gave that issue more depth.) However, the Disney folks thought it would be more appropriate to provide this DVD with an environmental awareness music video featuring Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato. Egad, where’s SpongeBob SquarePants when you really need him?
Dan’s question reminds me of incident from my teenage years. I was in a Bronx pizza parlor, where I was goofing with some of my friends. Some girl sitting next to me was clearly unimpressed, and she sneeringly looked at me and asked, “Are you stoned or just stupid?” I looked at here, flashed the biggest grin my mouth could offer, and answered in my best/worst Southern drawl: “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmm stoooooooooooooo-pid!”
Are you high or just stupid? A documentary with a plot? Name me one nature documentary with a “plot” it seems the only reason you’re asking where Spongebob Square Pants is is because that’s what you were expecting out of this documentary.
“The Cove” and/or “March of the Penguins” focused on Nature and had a narrative plot.