Movie Review – Oceans: Miraculous and Delightful Surprises in the Watery Sky

Perry Chen with Oceans poster@ Disney D23 Sep 2009

(out of 5 starfish)

By Perry S. Chen (Published on We Chinese in America)

What is the ocean?  People haven’t even scraped the surface of this magnificent expanse of water that yields such miraculous and delightful life.  From sail fish to mantis shrimp, this movie captures you from the start and never lets go.

The second DisneyNature documentary “Oceans” is delightful!  It was the best documentary nature movie since “Earth,” which came out last year also on Earth Day.

One of my favorite scenes shows a great white shark swimming peacefully alongside a diver.  Many think that sharks are just brainless, man-eating brutes, but they are really just your neighbors from the sea.

The ocean is so thriving with life that many people could be shocked by the surprising group of amazing creatures there.  When a mantis shrimp is fighting with a crab, you hear this stunning loud cracking sound, and a collective gasp in the audience, as the mantis shrimp crack off the crab’s pincer with its front appendages (which are capable of breaking aquarium glass!) in a sudden attack.  The crab hardly put up a fight!  This is the most memorable scene in the movie.  I wonder how the filmmakers were able to record the vivid sound so well underground.

I love many of the stunning images: the cloud of sea birds streaked into the water like a rain of arrows on a feeding frenzy into a huge school of fish, the plankton lit up like billions of stars in a watery sky, and so many more!

Once again, my mom thinks that the ocean is very powerful because of the scene when the fishing boat is nearly hurled out of the water by menacing, gigantic strong waves, as if the ocean wants its fish back.

We humans have damaged the ocean severely with our sewers and waste.  Just looking at the ominous clouds of waste and filth from rivers makes me want to turn my head away in disgust at the damage that we have caused.

The ocean is the origin of all life, and we must preserve and protect it!

I give “Oceans” 4 starfish.  “Earth” is a little better in my view, because it has a more structured story about three animal families.  The visuals of both movies are “Perrific!” I am surprised to see that so many oceans and countries were filmed when the credits rolled at the end.  There appears to be about a thousand (if not more) people and organizations involved in making “Oceans!”

At the end, the narrator Pierce Brosnan raised a thought-provoking question: instead of asking “What is the Ocean,” perhaps we should ask “What are we?”

The ocean is magical and mysterious, like the Pyramid.  All life is part of a pyramid, with us humans on top.  If we disrupt it and topple the pyramid of life, we will come down with it.

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At 10 years old, Perry Chen is the youngest award-winning child film critic, Annie Awards presenter, artist, TV personality, budding filmmaker/animator, and radio talk show host of “Perry Previews the Movies” on www.wsRadio.com.

Perry’s debut on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric in 2009 made him a national sensation.  He has been featured extensively on local, national, and international media, including NPR, Fox, KUSI, CW channel 6 San Diego Living, San Diego Union Tribune, San Diego Family Magazine, San Diego Magazine, SDNN, Art Rocks! radio, The China Press, World Journal, etc.  He reviews movies on multi-media, including TV, radio, newspaper, and online.  He has interviewed many Oscar and Annie-winning filmmakers at film festivals, movie premieres and press junket.  Perry won an award for his movie review column on We Chinese newspaper in January 2010, and two art awards.

Perry is becoming a filmmaker & animator, recently selected by Oscar-nominated animator/ filmmaker Bill Plympton and director Kevin Sean Michaels to be the sole animator for their next animation short about the Holocaust through the eyes of a young girl, Ingrid Pitt who survived it.

Perry reviews films on a 1-5 starfish rating system, 5 being the best.  His reviews are available on his website: www.perryspreviews.com.

Listen to his radio show on www.wsRadio.com/perry

Watch his videos on www.youtube.com/perryspreviews.

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