Deep Sea 3D

• Tickets

Movie Details

• Genre: Documentary
• Release Date: 2006-03-03 Limited
• Running Time: 40 min.
• Director: Howard Hall
• Cast: Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet
• Producer: Toni Myers, Michele Hall
• Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
• Official Site: Deep Sea 3D Official Site

Nature documentaries usually divide organisms into two scientific categories: the cute and the ugly. Smashing the IMAX film's usual ratio of padding to spectacle, this dazzling deep-sea venture in shrewdly deployed 3D is a respectful starring vehicle for the ocean floor's character actors--a troupe that includes creatures such as the wolf eel, a craggy brute that resembles an undersea Lawrence Tierney. "Clearly a face only a mother could love," sniffs narrator Kate Winslet, typifying the screenplay's level of icthyographic insight. And yet director Howard Hall's minutely detailed camerawork grants each oceanic dweller its own ornery, inscrutable splendor. Among the highlights are a California mantis shrimp eluding an undulating octopus; spider-legged feather stars scuttling away from a predator like runaway ferns; and the early trompe l'oeil shot of iridescent moon jellyfish slowly filling the theater. Science fiction looks paltry and imagination-starved by comparison. (Jim Ridley)