Search - Ocean Oasis (IMAX) Blu-ray on Blu-ray

A very good release of Ocean Oasis

Vareta Maximillion | San Diego, CA | 08/29/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I work in the AV Services department of the San Diego Natural History Museum, and this is our destination film. I have seen this movie on 8/70, DVD, and now Blu-ray well over 50 times from beginning to end.



As this movie was created for our museum, its a wheee bit hard to give an objective description. However, if you like nature documentaries, especially of the sea, you will probably enjoy this a great deal. Even more so if you live in or enjoy California or Mexico.



If you own the DVD: Get the Blu-ray. The DVD version is.... not so hot (at least the ones I've seen). The Blu-ray looks fantastic. Not as good as a 8/70mm film print (which is significantly more detail than a 35mm you would see at most theaters), but for the home market, pretty darn close.



As a note to the previous reviewer: yes, for some odd annoying reason, the subtitles in English are enabled by default. They can be disabled (just not in the setup menu of the movie). You will need to be playing the movie and toggle through the subtitle options (English, Dutch, German, Mandarin, Swedish, and None).



Now if they would just release the main theme as a song for Guitar Hero....."

A look at an extraordinary oasis!!

Stephen Pletko | London, Ontario, Canada | 12/10/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"XXXXX



"A very few special places in the world are havens for life. Resources and shelter draw living creatures far and near. These places are rare. We call them oases. Of them all, this is one of the most extraordinary...



Why does this land and sea create an oasis?"



The above is what the viewer is told at the beginning of this beautiful and informative documentary. The "land" mentioned in the question above is Mexico's Baja (pronounced "Ba-ha") California peninsula and the "sea" mentioned is the Pacific Ocean waters located between this peninsula and the coast of contiguous Mexico.



This film was originally released as an IMAX movie.



The photography and aerial cinematography are breathtaking. You'll see all the incredible diversity of wildlife found in this area especially the underwater life (dolphins, whales, sharks, manta rays, etc.). There is also scenes on reef life (a choral reef is located here) and desert life (the desert being located on the peninsula).



The entire program is alternately narrated by three scientists (ecologists, naturalists, etc.) who work in this area. The narration does not attempt to overwhelm the viewer with too much information but only presents that which is relevant and interesting.



My only problem with this movie is that it does not, at its very beginning, tell us very well what exact area is being profiled. The only name mentioned is Baja California and we're given an aerial view of the peninsula. That's it!! I was initially confused and couldn't understand why there wasn't more of an explanation which would have taken perhaps another twenty to thirty seconds.



There was no mention that Baja California is the northernmost state of Mexico or that this state is bordered by the Pacific Ocean. Also not mentioned, is that the sea partially enclosed by the peninsula is called the Sea of Cortez (but on maps it's called the Gulf of California).



Finally, the DVD (the one in Blu-ray released 2008) is perfect in picture and sound quality. It has four extras.



In conclusion, this documentary does a good job in profiling a very special place that's a haven for life!



(2000; 39 min; wide screen; 12 scenes)







XXXXX

"

Good video quality

D. Krepak | 08/28/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have this in SD DVD but when I saw it was coming out in blu-ray I wanted it. Unfortunately I did not find anything anywhere about this version that said there are forced subtitles. There isn't any way to turn off the subtitles even when English is picked for the main audio. This is supposed to be a U.S. release. The subtitles are very distracting and take away from the video. I don't think I would have bought it had I known this.



Addendum:As the other reviewer noted, I did find out after sending an email to the distributor and the people who authored the disc the remote is the way to turn off the subtitles. I have many blu-ray discs and this is the first that won't allow turning off subtitles in the setup menu on the disc. I have the Panasonic BD30 and if you push the display button when the disc is playing you will see a subtitle area where you can turn subtitles off. The people who authored the disc said they didn't feel it was necessary to put the option in the setup menu on the disc since you can do it from the remote button. I now give the disc 5 stars."

Just Okay

P. TAN | Philly | 12/01/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Great info. Quality is good. Narration can be better with better voice by an actor. Music is not fun. I like watching nature shows that shows awesome video and great sound composition. Coral Reef is better made."