Customer Reviews

Coral Sea Dreaming

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Coral Sea Dreaming consists of the main feature, "Coral Sea Dreaming" (54 minutes), and six short features Wetlands", "Surfin' Dolphins" (3 min), "Ocean Moods" (6 min), "Undersea Breeze" (4 mins), "Sea Lions" (7 min), and "Save the Reef" (1 min).

My personal favorite was the Surfin' Dolphins short feature which had nice shots of dolphins playing in the surf off an Australian beach set to lively music.

The cinematography in all the features is excellent and captions (when turned on) clear and easy to read.

But... What I was hoping for in the main feature was a more relaxing, less rushed, somewhat aquarium-like, view of underwater coral and fish of the reef -- what I got was more of a very well done streaming catalog of short clips of each fish or coral.

Rather than a more continuous flow of images, the main feature presented a view of one scene or fish species for 3 to 7 seconds before cutting to another fish or angle for another 3 to 7 seconds, over and over again.

This gave me the feeling that I was reviewing a substantial catalog of excellent views of coral and individual fish species rather than the more relaxing views that I had desired.

I was hoping for something that would bring back memorys of past snorkeling trips (Sea of Cortez) -- holding a view of a continuous and/or contiguous background longer or following a school of fish longer. But, too many scene changes too fast...

So, partly based on my expectations (perhaps unwarranted), I have to give this DVD 3 stars. I would happily give any of the 3-7 second scenes 5 stars, but I found the constant cutting and fading of scene after scene in such rapid order disruptive -- enough so that I did not find the feature relaxing, nor particularly suited for repeated foreground or background viewing.

I'm guessing that this would be a wonderful video for anyone planning to go the the Great Barrier Reef who wants to view and study a large collection of short segments of different creatures of the reef.

This is a spectacular DVD! If you are looking for some "eye-candy" to impress your friends with your new DVD player, then look no further. The video on this DVD is fantastic, crystal-clear closing in on HDTV clarity. The undersea camera work is great, high caliber work all around. The soundtrack is appropriate to video, relaxing and "new age", done in Dolby Digital. Also, there is a screen saver for your PC on the disk.

There is an education feature of sorts too, if you turn on subtitles, they show up to name the underwater creature(s).

Excellent job all around. Great to view, great to relax too, great to learn from. Can't go wrong with this disk. BTW, I'm just a happy consumer, not associated with the maker/manufacturer.

Spectacular! The video is fantastic. The undersea cinematography is great, high caliber work all around. The soundtrack is appropriate to video, relaxing "new age", done in Dolby Digital. Screen saver and Wallpaper for your PC. It will rank high in my collection of Reef and Ocean videos. I recomend it for a gift to a special friend. This work truely deserves recognition and support. In fact I'm going to look for more work by David Hannan.

I always thought it would be nice to dive the Barrier Reef, but had other locations higher on the list. After seeing this DVD (and buying a copy for a gift, too!) it has moved WAY up on my list! I have shown it to non-divers as well as divers and all are awed. Spectacular clarify, beautiful new age original music. Makes me want to get my gear and go!

Coral Sea Dreaming shows a variety of ocean life and habitats, both under and around the water.   Compared to relaxation DVD's, this has the highest quality picture that I've seen. The picture on a widescreen rear projection TV needed no adjustments. Although the picture is very sharp and clear in many places, there is some variability in the picture quality. Some scenes were fairly fuzzy. It's filmed in full screen mode. I'd like to find this type of movie in widescreen filmed with high definition cameras. It probably sounds pretty goofy, but I enjoy watching fish swim around! I highly recommend Coral Sea Dreaming.

This DVD is for people who want unbelievable nature footage with serene music and without narration of any kind. The footage is of top video quality and includes littoral birds and underwater footage of fish and coral. The music is very calming.

This can be played in the background or for regular viewing. My one year old will watch off and on and likes the music. It is relaxing, beautiful and educational at the same time.

I highly recommend. I wish there were more DVDs like this.

This film is the best of all 15 dvd's i have in nature series. It is really relaxing. No words only music. And the subtitles help you the name of the creatures. A "must have" item.

My family once owned the video to this movie. It was so relaxing, peaceful, and beautiful. The first time I saw it, I fell asleep (that's not a bad thing). This a great video for the whole family; babies will be mesmarized by the color (then quickly put to sleep because of the music), kids with be awed, teens will find it very facinating, and parents can take a well needed break. This video/DVD can take the stress out of anyone's day and turn a bad day upside down. This movie wasn't made to have a plot, it was created just to be beautiful. Everyone should own this; I highly recommend it.

I have almost all available underwater DVDs. If you want one thats like meditation, "Coral Sea Dreaming DVD" is really one of the best. The quality of the film sequence is crystal-clear. It's indead as the title is.

I own a few background/atmosphere type DVDs and this one is the one I reach for the most. After watching it straight through for a couple of times I enjoy it now in the background when I am cooking or sometimes reading. It is not a movie, no plot, dialog, etc.. For me it brings back pleasant memories of diving vacations and the accompanying music is very pleasant and light. The music to me fits beautifully with the amazing and professional underwater footage. There is a great variety of undersea life depicted in the footage and you can choose to watch with subtitles that identify what you are seeing. The DVD can also be played straight through, on continuous loop, or by selecting individual segments. I especially love the segments with the dolphins surfing and the sea lions playing, I find it hard to be in a bad mood when watching these segments.