Wild Ocean, directed by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas and narrated by John Kani, is another visually impressive IMAX production. This time set around the shores of South Africa and focusing on the environmental effects of sardine fishing, the visuals are as lush and remarkable as you'd expect based on previous offerings in this line, maybe even more so. This time around, the narration takes on an environmentalist stance, but never comes across as heavy handed or judgmental as many documentaries with this slant tend to do.

The film is set in an area of the South African coast known as the Wild Ocean area where there are more marine predators than anywhere else in the area. Why do these different fish, mammals and birds all congregate in the same area? Because it's rich in sardines, and as such, it makes hunting and feeding relatively easy. The annual sardine run, a migration of absolutely staggering proportions, occurs each year when the cold water currents bring the fish in closer to land in search of warmer water, and when this happens we literally see massive tornado sized streams of sardines come upon the area. From the air, they look like oil slicks, and when viewed from underwater, they look like swirling clouds. The documentary contains striking footage shot from both perspectives.

So as the sardines make their migration, we see seals, penguins, dolphins, diving birds and other sea predators move in to take advantage of the free and easy food they make for. Amazingly enough, the schools of sardines act with what can only be described as a collective intelligence, as if one central brain is controlling the movements of hundreds of thousands of fish at the same time. They keep moving, in unison, to avoid and confuse the predators. Sometimes they succeed, other times they're not so lucky. Sharks move in on the scene to take advantage of the massive collection of marine life in the area, and in one incredible scene shot underwater we see almost all of the aforementioned animals involved in a remarkable life and death struggle. As the sardines swarm, the dolphins try to break them up, the seals move in from the sides ,the birds dive down from above and the sharks swim underneath it all.

The environmentalist slant to the documentary comes into play as the narration discusses preservation tactics put into play by the South African government. Currently approximately twenty percent of the coast line is protected, ensuring that unlike what's happened in parts of North America and Europe, the sardine run should continue to be an annual event. Off shore fisherman cast their lines into the water while boats bring in nets swimming with countless fish but the regulations at least try to conserve this amazing natural resource. Unfortunately, pollution and the effects of global warming take their tolls, creating warmer water closer to shore and driving the sardine swarms further out to sea, thus affecting the habits of the creatures that dwell closer to land and feed off of them.

The message is made loud and clear through Kadi's narration, but the documentary isn't a doom and gloom piece. In fact, it's quite the opposite. As we travel with and learn about the ocean creatures that make up the bulk of the content, we also get a look at the South African people and their way of life. We learn how they live off of what the sea provides and how they celebrate life through song. It's all set to a very percussion heavy soundtrack - which isn't surprising when you consider that Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas created Stomp - and it's wonderfully shot. The film moves at a good pace and at only forty-two minutes in length, it could easily have been twice as long and been just as entertaining. In fact, the short length is really the only part of this production worth complaining about. Everything else is handled perfectly. The end result is a fascinating and beautiful documentary that's educational, entertaining and completely engrossing.

Video:

Wild Ocean looks great in this 1.85.1 VC-1 encoded 1080p high definition transfer. The colors are spectacular, leaping off the screen at times, while detail is crisp and strong throughout. Some of the underwater photography looks understandably softer than the footage shot from the air and the ground but aside from that, you can't really complain. The odd minor speck of debris shows up once in a while but if you're not looking for it you're probably not going to notice it. Image's disc is well authored as it shows no evidence of edge enhancement or of mpeg compression and there are moments here that are just stunning in their detail and clarity. It isn't every shot that looks this good, and some inconsistencies in the source material are evident, but when this one shines, which is more often than not, it looks really beautiful.