Oceans (2010)

3.0

DOCUMENTARY
U.S. Release Date: 04/22/10
Running Length: 86 Minutes
MPAA Classification: G
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1
Cast: Pierce Brosnon (Narrator)
Director: Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud
Cinematography: Luc Drion, Philippe Ros, Luciano Tovoli
Music: Bruno Coulais
U.S. Distributor: Disneynature

Review by: Carter Moulton

05/03/10

The first animals we see in Disneynature’s Oceans are Homo sapiens—young boys, running on a clouded beach. The camera stops on one blonde-haired boy as he looks out into the sea. It’s a fictional moment in an otherwise factual film, but it’s passable because we can all relate; we’ve all wondered, “What does this all mean?” You won’t find the answer in Oceans, but you will travel to a place where fantasy and escapism blend with veracity—and I’m not talking about Pierce Brosnan’s voice.

Brosnan narrates the picture, and his voice is soothing enough to be considered an upgrade over the sass-attack provided by James Earl Jones in last year’s Earth. That being said, most of Bond’s dialogue is observational—i.e. “a young humpback clings to her mother”— rather than educational. Additionally, some of his lines make no sense at all—at one point he refers to a narwhal as both a dragon and a unicorn in the same sentence.

Photo © Walt Disney Pictures

Even if the narration is just middling, Directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud should be proud of the frames they’ve created. One scene, which arrives within the first half of the film, shows birds plunging into the sea for sardines at high speeds. Underneath, dolphins, whales, and sharks also want some food. The scene is shot with all the intensity of an action scene from the upcoming Iron Man 2, but this is something that happens not in Marvel comic books but right on our blue speck of a planet. As the scene concludes, we get an overhead shot of this instant of life, where so many different forms of life come together.

Unlike Earth, there aren’t narrative storylines to follow; we aren’t asked to invest emotionally in polar bears, elephants, or whales. Instead, we get little paragraphs, anecdotes from many different species. I’m disappointed that manatees saw no screentime and sharks saw very little. Because of the flowing structure of the film, things get a bit muddled from time to time. For instance, we are introduced to the blue whale twice, and it’s not until the second mention that we “learn” about the species’ title as the “largest animal in the history of life.”

Oceans should also be applauded for its message of activism. The film displays a few particularly staggering satellite images of ocean pollution, as well as photographic images of aquatic life living amidst polluted-flotsam (milk jugs, shopping carts, and other garbage).

What we get with Disneynature’s latest is a film that is less cohesive but more beautiful than its predecessor. I, for one, love thinking about the ocean for its quiet yet eventful qualities, and that’s exactly what Oceans features.