Oceans Rated G

Directed by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud.  Documentary

Photo © Disneynature
Movie Review by Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

I “Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.” (Psalm 105:25) 

With PBS and the cable nature channels doing such a great job with nature documentaries (including the great work from the National Geographic Society), a feature-length film about ocean life seems almost unnecessary. 

Fortunately, Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud are filmmakers who are also poetic visionaries, as their 2001 film Winged Migration demonstrated. 

Oceans was seven years in the making, including four years of shooting, using deep-sea cinematographers from around the world.  The results are breathtaking, including an amazing feeding frenzy in which birds dive bomb from above to grab fish while avoiding a school of dolphins. 

There’s beautiful footage of whales, crabs, clown fish and more, set to a beautiful musical score by Bruno Coulais. 

The folks at Disney trimmed 14 minutes from the original running time to soften the scenes of feeding (there is no blood) and to downplay the original film’s stronger ecological message (although it’s still there, rather clumsily, towards the end). 

This is not a bad thing, since it makes Oceans a family-friendly opportunity to marvel at God’s wonderful diversity.  The narration, read by Pierce Brosnan, is nothing particularly edifying or instructional, but it does identify many of the creatures. 

I would be happy to watch this film without any narration whatsoever (and hope that will be an option on the DVD).  Oceans is well worth seeing, reminding us that we don’t have to visit the planet of Pandora to discover images of incredible beauty and wonder. 

Pitchfork Rating:
Fove halos. A beautiful celebration of the diversity of life found on and below the ocean depths.

One picthfork. The film reminds us of our ability to pollute and exploit the environment.

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