Product Details

• Actors: Pierce Brosnan, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Jacques Perrin, Rie Miyazawa, Aldo
• Directors: Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud
• Writers: Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud, Christophe Cheysson, François Sarano, Laurent Debas
• Producers: Jacques Perrin, Connie Nartonis Thompson, Don Hahn
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• DVD Release Date: October 19, 2010
• Run Time: 84 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003QF1N7K
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,680 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #70 in Movies & TV > DVD > Special Interests
• For more information about "Disneynature: Oceans" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

After taking on insects for Microcosmos and birds for Winged Migration, French filmmaker Jacques Perrin segues to sea creatures for Oceans. Codirected by Jacques Cluzaud, Disneynature's follow-up to Earth presents useful information but concentrates more on awe-inspiring imagery than scene-setting text. As narrator Pierce Brosnan states, "The Ocean is alive," and the crew spent four years crossing the globe to capture its most intriguing sights, from the salt-encrusted marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands to the silky fur seals of South Africa. In other sequences, horseshoe crabs scuttle across the sand, jellyfish pulsate through the deep, and sardines sparkle as the sun catches their scales. Some creatures, like the blanket octopus, look more like abstract paintings than anything one might find on land. The cycle of life plays out as newborn green turtles make the treacherous trek from sand to sea and hermit crabs unwittingly enter the cleverly camouflaged lair of the mantis shrimp. Even viewers who normally prefer Hollywood blockbusters may find the smooth moves of the stonefish as transfixing as those of the biggest action-movie star. As with the Oscar-winning documentary March of the Penguins, however, Oceans targets kids as much as adults, unlike The Cove or Sharkwater, which feature material of a more graphic and political nature. Perrin and Cluzaud clearly aim to discourage pollution and encourage conservation, but their movie mostly serves as a treat for the eyes and ears (with the exception of the annoying Joe Jonas song that plays over the end credits). --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Product Description

Dive into Oceans from Disneynature – The studio that brought you EARTH for a spectacular story about remarkable creatures under the sea. Stunning images await as you journey in to the depths of a wonderland filled with mystery, beauty and power. It’s an unprecedented look at the live s of these elusive deepwater creatures through their own eyes. Incredible state-of-the-art-underwater filmmaking will take your breath away as you migrate with whales, swim alongside a great white shark and race with dolphins at play. Filled with adventure, comedy and drama, OCEANS is a fascinating and thought-provoking experience you’ll never forget.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating World Lies Beneath the Waves, April 22, 2010

By 

Chris Pandolfi (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

On this Earth Day, let us reflect that, while environmental improvements have been made, more work needs to be done. Three scenes late in Disneynature's "Oceans" demonstrate this with chilling sincerity. The first shows a number of hapless exotic sea creatures struggling to free themselves from the snare of gigantic fishing nets. They were not meant to get caught - the blue tuna were, a species endangered due to overfishing. The second scene is comprised of satellite imagery, which to the naked eye reveals nothing out of the ordinary. But with the help of scanning technologies, we're able to see black tendrils of pollution flowing out to sea from populated coastlines. The third shows an island of trash, mostly plastics, floating listlessly in the water. A sunken shopping cart seems to genuinely confuse a nearby sea lion, and it might even have affected its ability to survive.

One of this movie's strengths is that it doesn't gloss over these unpleasant details, nor does it spare the audience of unfortunate realities - where there are sea lions, there are also hungry sharks and orcas, and where there are newborn sea turtles, there are also dive-bombing birds. At the same time, it doesn't bombard you with them; if anything, it's a celebration of sea life, a reminder that, in spite of humanity's interference, life does indeed go on.

It's above all a magnificently written and beautifully photographed expose of ocean life. This is the second Disneynature documentary, the first being last year's "Earth," the reedited and redubbed version of the BBC and Discovery Channel miniseries "Planet Earth." Despite its breathtaking imagery and entertaining narration, it felt terribly condensed, and the plight of the various animal families seemed manufactured, almost like ... well, almost like a Disney film. "Oceans" wisely avoids this issue by not applying human traits to the animals; this time around, they're not characters in a story so much as subjects being observed. If the filmmakers were to spend all their time following two or three animal groups over a given period of time, the movie would fail to show just how immensely diverse marine life truly is.

Over the course of four years, directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud captured footage from over fifty locations, revealing all manner of aquatic creatures both above and below the ocean surface. Some are gruff and ugly, like the rockfish. Some are surprisingly beautiful, like the blanket octopus, whose long, flowing tentacles give the appearance of a scarf lost in a current. Some are adorable, like the otters that freely float on their backs in the open waters off Monterey Bay. Some are bizarre, like the dragonfish, which can only survive in the waters of the China Sea. Some are naturally acrobatic, like the school of sardines able to form perfect cones and spheres. Some are frightening, like spider crabs that attack one another in multitudes so vast, we cannot see the ocean floor when the camera pulls up for a wide shot.

The film is narrated by Pierce Brosnan, who sounds not like a stuffy nature show host but like a man telling a story he genuinely finds fascinating. His voice has an appealing warmth to it, a soothing and clam quality that seems to be saying, "It's all right - that's what we call the circle of life." Indeed, it isn't easy watching a shark make a meal out of a sea lion. It is, however, amusing to watch sea lions sunbathing lazily on the beach, getting comfortable with seemingly no effort at all. It's also heartwarming to see a mother walrus swimming with her calf. In documentaries such as this, one must take the bad with the good. This is especially true for younger audiences, who may not be aware of what happens out in the wild.

It's appropriate, then, that the filmmakers should include something about how we as a species affect our oceans. Show children the trash floating in the water, and the pollution running off from our rivers, and the animals caught in the fishing nets. This is what we have done and continue to do. It may only be a small sampling, but at least it makes them aware of it. And yet, there's no sense that the filmmakers are shaming or condemning us; if anything, they continuously try to instill a sense of optimism that we can, in fact, take steps to reverse the damage we've caused. I like this approach. We need to love our planet, but we don't need to feel guilty about who we are.

"Oceans" is not merely entertaining and wonderfully shot. It's also insightful, and it effectively covers a wide range of topics in the space of just over 100 minutes. Despite its G rating, it doesn't pander to its young audience by making the animals overly sentimental; it simply presents them as they are, good and bad alike. It also has a point that it wants to argue, namely that we must know about our oceans if we're to protect them. This movie works nicely as a standalone piece, but it might do better as the first step in an ongoing quest for knowledge. Isn't it great when a film can do more than entertain, when it can actually inspire people to educate themselves and take part in something important?

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT movie!, August 28, 2010

By 

R. Faulds (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Disneynature: Oceans (DVD)

I saw this movie with my two grandsons and can not wait for its release in October. I'm pre-ordering it now so I'll have it as soon as it becomes available. The cinematography is indeed fantastic and there is no need to rate it any lower because of the narration. This is a must have in your collection! When my son-in-law inquired if his 4 and 6 year olds thanked Papa for taking them to the movie, the six year old immediately replied "thanks Papa". After a short time, and following another request from the father, the four year old replied, "I'm NOT thanking him for making me watch a great white eat a seal!" There are a few graphic scenes but they are REAL - big fish do indeed eat little fish.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic movie, but US version is 20 min short, July 31, 2010

By 

Roy (Folsom, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Disneynature: Oceans (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (Blu-ray)

I am a fan of movies like planet earth, life. I really like this movie. But, French version BD DVD is 103 min while US theater version is 82min. I hope the US BD DVD would be full version.