Customer Reviews

Deep Blue

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a beautifully filmed documentary about life in the oceans. It covers a wide variety of species in breathtaking vignettes about their lives and, sometimes, their deaths.

A lot of what goes on in the oceans is based on finding food to survive, so it's not surprising that many of the segments include footage of various animals and fish hunting and feeding on their prey. It's not too disturbing when the prey are small schooling fish, but some of the sequences with larger mammals made me wonder why the film has a G rating. Small children are almost certain to be confused and upset.

Nonetheless, the film is wonderful for slightly older audiences. It's a beautifully filmed, honest, and fascinating look at the myriad life forms that inhabit our oceans.

It looks as if documentaries about Earth's life forms have become sub-genre for moviemaking. We have already seen fantastic documentaries like `Microcosmos' and `Winged Migration.' And as far as cinematography is concerned, `Deep Blue' is as beautiful as those films. The difference is that you might be less likely to be surprised by its content in spite of its wonderful images of dolphins, sea birds, whales, sea lions, penguins, and jelly-like creatures flashing blue in the deep ocean.

Don't get me wrong here because the marine images of the film are stunning. For those who love watching this kind of documentary film, however, some part of the film is no longer new and refreshing. Sea birds diving deep into the sea to catch fish would be an amazing image if you have not seen `Winged Migration.' Emperor penguins marching up the beach from the sea and standing in a group to survive a blizzard would be an astonishing scene if you have not seen `March of the Penguins.' And `March of the Penguins' would tell you more about the life of the penguins with its narration.

The film's strength lies in its editing, I think. Sometimes each vignette has a sort of short story (mainly about hunting) with George Fenton's gorgeous but slightly bombastic soundtrack. Still the breathtaking beauty of the images cannot be denied, and some creatures, those in Mariana Trench in particular, have totally different kind of beauty, very surreal and other-worldly one.

Finally I have to say some sections of the film may scare kids. What orca whales can do on the beach might be shocking to them (and adults too). Of course they kill to survive, but the point is how they kill. Just see it for yourself.

Though not informative as you might think, `Deep Blue' still offers a series of astonishing images about the animals and creatures living in the sea. The only thing I find disagreeable is its DVD cover. Why penguins? Unlike `March of the Penguins' you don't see many penguins here.

As a nature film lover I give this film 5 stars! From the soundtrack to the deeply beautiful cinematography everything about "Deep Blue" is amazing. Stunning images of natural beauty are presented as a feast for the eyes. The many facets of life that live in and around the oceans of the world are the main characters of this film. Many animal species are depicted- from penguins to wales to polar bears. Many creatures of the deep sea have never been captured on film before!

Thanks to the efforts of the creators of "Deep Blue" these invisible wonders can now be enjoyed in your own living room! One of our favorite movies!
As a movie fan I have to give this film 2 thumbs up, way up!

As I watched this film, I realized I had seen much of it before, on my 4-disc collection Blue Planet, Seas of Life. That being said, Blue Planet is light years better than this feature-length dvd. The most memorable identical scenes include the grey whale/killer whale incident, as well as the footage in deep water of bioluminescent fish, plus the amazing critters surviving without any sunlight in the Marianas trench. I believe there are some other identical sections, though they escape me at the moment. If you don't want to spend the money for the Blue Planet collection, then this dvd will be ok. However, if you do buy Blue Planet, you will be treated to even more amazing ocean footage: a whole disc for coral reefs, a whole disc for coastal waters, a whole disc for deep ocean life, and a whole disc on arctic oceans life. Go for Blue Planet!!

This is undoubtedly one of THE most beautiful nature films I have ever seen. There is a minimum of speaking and a maximum of viewing. Very tastefully done. Just beautiful!

XXXXX

"We have walked on the moon and continue to push the open boundaries of space. Yet it is the mysteries of the ocean that continue to elude us"

The above is what the narrator (Pierce Brosnan) says at the end of this mesmerizing "cinematic masterpiece" that comes from the creators of the landmark BBC series "The Blue Planet." This movie is an exploration (mostly underwater) into the secret lives of sea creatures.

Generally, this film begins at the ocean beach and moves to the open ocean. From there, we are taken to the Earth's poles to see "the frozen ocean" and then finally to the dark ocean depths to view an "alien world" where life (that's never been captured on film) has adapted.

This film is a visual feast. There is minimal narration. I appreciated the scarce narration since I found that the visually stunning images speak for themselves. The stirring background music adds to the viewer's visual experience.

I recommend also viewing "The Making of Deep Blue" fifty-minute DVD extra. You will hear about all the technical challenges and risks that were taken involved with this documentary. (In fact, I appreciated the film even more after viewing this extra.) Besides technical information, I found that there was additional interesting information not included by the narrator of the main feature.

Finally, there were two problems I had with this movie. First, it is rated "G." Because this film shows some images that may be disturbing to the very young, I feel it should have been thus rated "PG." Second, the DVD case shows a picture of only penguins. However, the film features many other marine creatures from whales and dolphins to crabs and jellyfish.

In conclusion, viewing this film is a unique experience--"a remarkable, jaw-dropping experience!!"

(2005; 85 min (excluding end credits); wide screen; 15 scenes)

XXXXX

One of the best oceanic viewing experiences I've seen in years! The breathtaking cinematography, gorgeous in every detail, is enhanced by a wonderful musical score. The DVD extras include a "making of" documentary which is fascinating in its own right. The BBC hit this one out of the park! It is great for the whole family...there are only 2 or 3 scenes that younger children may find scarey or upsetting (Killer whales & sharks hunting and eating), but most of this amazing program is simply beautiful. It makes me wish that I could watch it on IMAX!!

The BBC documentary The Blue Planet first aired in 2001, and this film is dramatised from the footage of that ground breaking series.

So unlike the reviewer who mentions March of the Penguins etc as already showing you some of this footage, please note that this was filmed well before MOTP was made.

Buy the original series if you like more narration, but otherwise simply sit back and enjoy the stunning photography.

There are scenes in this movie that will boggle your mind and stretch the limits of your imagination. As someone who loves watching nature documentaries, it's not often I see something that I have never seen before. This movie has at least a dozen of those moments.

There are several amazing sequences in this movie. One of killer whales beaching themselves to hunt seals along the shore is frightening and displays nature at it's rawest. Another of a pod of dozens of dolphins acrobatically flying out of the water and doing summersaults and spins for no apparent reason shows nature's playfullness.

But by far, the most amazing moments in this film are when it goes down into the deepest depths. Here the film shows creatures that are so bizarre, so beyong imagining, I began to wonder what else is out there. This 10 minute sequence alone is worth the price of admission. You won't be disappointed.

This is a stunning documentary about life in and by the oceans of the world. Narration is minimal, so you usually don't know where the footage is from - other than the ocean - but that really didn't bother me. I was enthralled from start to finish, even though I found the footage of the seal being caught in the surf by a killer whale and tossed into the air as the whale swam off with it, and another part where three killer whales separated a baby whale from its mother by exhausting it and then killing it were sad is a little disturbing. Still, that's the way it is in nature, and it's all about staying alive one way or another. I agree that those two parts may be a bit too intense for little kids. It isn't gory or graphic (there is blood in the water), but it's very clear what is happening. It isn't Disney! Later in the film, spectacular footage is shown from the very depths of the ocean and the bizarre-looking creatures who live in total darkness. Simply amazing! The "Making of" feature on the DVD is almost as fascinating as the film itself, and gives a great deal of technical information about the filming process as well as personal insights from the filmmakers themselves.