Customer Reviews

IMAX: Volcanoes of the Deep Sea [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Given that they spend a lot of time at the lightless bottom of the ocean exploring "black smoker" geothermal vents, this was visually phenomenal. I heard somewhere that they used a new lighting system, and the color at depth was excellent - the teeming life they found down there was astonishing, and the mystery of the "patterns in the sand cores" was also quite interesting - possibly more so because the actual creatures responsible for the patterns had not, by the end of the movie, been located.

As a professional scientist in another field, I found this riveting - and so did my six-year-old. Can't say that about too many nonfiction films out there! One of the best features is that the film does go into detail, but mixes the narrative detail in with the stunning visuals in such a way that while older viewers are listening to the science as well as looking, the kids are looking at all the cool (well, hot, actually) stuff and may also be listening.

First class adventure beneath the sea at depths and sea floors which are truly an "other" world.....but not. Stunning visual wonders, facts and information about our current world and a wonderful adventure into the amazing world of our earth's past. See it for yourself. Words are pale imitations.

I saw this feature at our local IMAX and as soon as it was released on DVD I had to have it! Volcanoes of the Deep Sea features footage of some VERY cool invertebrates living DEEP under water at hot vents on the sea floor. Ed Harris does a great job narrating. I wish these IMAX features were longer!

This is a film whose strength lies mostly in its first-class imagery. The high definition underwater film coupled with the excellent CG sequences create a very unique and intimate look at life on the hydrothermal vents. If you are new to this ecosystem, you will be truly amazed and taken aback at how alien it is. But for those who are already somewhat familiar with hydrothermal and chemosynthetic ecosystems, you won't be learning anything new. The film is fairly light on information, preferring to dazzle the viewer with closeup looks at the vents and impressive computer generated scenes.

This... on HDTV... is just like in an IMAX! I'm an earth science teacher, and I can tell you this mesmerized the class. In fact, it's great for life science as well.

Often what is shown is not at all explained, other times only explained in a very cursory way. I was expecting much more information about the underwater vents than was presented. Also the narration did not always fit the imagery that was being shown at the moment. And the narration at times seemed rather lazily delivered and vague.
The exact same shots were used more than once, not excusable for a feature that is only 45 minutes long.
Over-all this production seemed tacky and overly-impressed with itself, but failed to deliver at the same level as many other available documentaries of the natural world.

I bought this for my fifth graders. In fifth grade we learn all about energy and how the sun provides energy for all living things on Earth. My students were absolutely blown away that geothermal heat could be the source energy for living things as well. I showed this video in the last two weeks of school, and students created an energy pyramid to reflect the hydrothermal vent environment. My video had a very good educational "extra feature" with science demonstrations that explained concepts students needed to know to understand hydrothermal vent environments. Awesome, awesome enrichment tool. I will be looking for more videos from this producer. Please comment if you know any...

I have never taken the time to write a product review, probably because I never sat down and was shockingly amazed at how beautiful the picture of a particular movie was. This video on blu-ray is well worth its price. I loved it and cannot imagine ever not recommending it as a first choice, underwater video.

This is a MUST-SEE!!!!

I thought this was a very beautiful movie. You can't go wrong buying this one. The colors were incredible.
I know a filmmaker who creates IMAX films. The effort is unbelievable.

Volcanoes Under the Sea gives us a glimpse into our enormous ocean rift zones which circle the globe.
There are so many volcanoes that I don't know if anyone can count them. Then there exists the unbelievable
life surrounding the volcanic vents. What enchantment! I bet this deep sea life existed before we did (yes, you and me-dummy).

If you want to learn something new and perhaps enchant your children, buy this video. I loved it!

We enjoy watching educational videos with our family and purchased this one for our library. After watching it this evening we're very disappointed.

While the photo content was average, we soon discovered that a fair bit of it is computer generated imagery.... not fact but imagination. There are periods of complete silence alternating with dramatic music, but very little clear explanation of the video photography being shown. The writer/producer was very free to include far-fetched, contrived theories of origin presented as fact.

Neither was there a clear line of discovery or an educational theme. This film was presented as scientific. However, there was no presentation of what they hoped to discover, no explanation of the method they planned to use, no clear conclusion of the results found or how those results related to the original hypothesis. The film was also presented as an educational video. But there was no clearly stated overarching theme as would be expected... no "if you remember nothing else, remember this" idea.

Not even close to BBC.