Wild Ocean (2008)

Probably the most disappointing of the nature movies available on Netflix. The ocean is deep but this movie isn't, almost immediately you realize that this more polemic than documentary and there is nothing to be learned except that the ocean is full of tasty sardines and humanity is destroying everything.The underwater footage was over edited and repetitive, the narration was condescending and predictable. Just a few minutes of eye candy played over and over.Got a big screen TV? Then fast forward to the visually interesting parts and turn the volume down. You will be done in a few minutes.Go see any of the David Attenborough nature documentaries if you want to actually learn about nature. Any old school Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom episode out classes this "documentary"

This documentary tells the stunning story of shoals of sardines swimming in the seas of Africa, moving beautifully as they are chased by dolphins and birds."Wild Ocean" has visually stunning footage of large shoals of sardines swimming in wild oceans, trying to avoid the dolphins and birds that prey on them. They move gracefully in formation, and yet when predator comes they sharply turn in packs while still staying in formation. How the fish manage to communicate with each other about which way to swim to is quite amazing, but unfortunately the scientific knowledge is not covered by this documentary. In fact, this documentary is all about visuals, and not much content is in it. It's not educational enough. I would have liked some education on scientific theories on sardines, as it would have been more intellectually challenging for viewers.

I don't normally go out of my way to write up reviews on this site - but wow, even my kids were bored! This movie could have easily been called "40 Minutes of Small Fish Getting Eaten Over and Over again!" Admittedly I did not look to hard at the show description - but with a name like "Wild Ocean" you expect to get some amazing underwater photography. You got none of that from this film. All it was was pictures of a school of sardines getting eaten by birds and dolphins (and a few sharks). That in and of itself isn't very exciting and to have to sit through 40 minutes of it (seriously the shots DON'T change) is pure torture. The best they manage to do is change the shots to slow motion near the end of the film. It really is lame for an IMAX film.

This film is a poorly edited, disjointed mishmash of repetitive incomplete ideas involving sea life off the eastern South African coast. The film contains beautiful scene and action shots of a limited nature... something like five or six basic locations whose film is interspersed to suggest a semi-plot involving the seasonal sardine run. There's a mere suggestion about environmental issues but that's not linked in any distinct way to the actions at hand. I liken this film to a music video that should have been limited to 6 minutes max rather than the 40 alloted...it dragged on and on in repetitive waves washing on my visual shores. The drum beat / rhythmic music's interesting, but doesn't evoke an appropriate emotional response of the web of life (though in parts it did sound like a rip-off of the Lion King). Probably the most boring it-felt-like-4-hours of my life.