FILM RADAR: SHARKS 3D IMAX

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Thursday, March 10th, 2005

SHARKS 3D IMAX

I have always LOVED sharks. There is just something so majestic and graceful about them. Yesterday I found out that SHARKS 3D Imax would only be playing in the LA area one more day, so I rushed from work to go see it. I was very disappointed. First off the poster and website for this film show a big great white shark which lead me to believe that would be a big part of the film. Apparently I was wrong. The great white is only in the film for 2 minutes at the most. The film is narrated by a sea turtle which made me cringe. I hate cutesy stuff like that. My theory is that there must have been some sea turtle that kept getting in the way while they were filming so they just decided to make a “creative decision” to make it the narrator. Perhaps this is just my dark sense of humor at work, but if you are going to get all creative like that why not have the bloody chum narrate the film. I can just imagine it...."Hello. I’m “Fred” the bloody chum. I’m made up of horse meat and scraps from your local butcher shop. In just a moment I’ll be tossed in the water and used as bait to lure sharks. It should be exciting. When I’m devoured I will take you on an amazing journey into the shark’s jaws, teeth and stomach. It will be fun and educational. Let’s watch!”

At any rate, the film looked nice but there was nothing unique or interesting about any of the shots. Everything started to look alike after about 5 minutes. The sea turtle guides the viewer on a tour of the ocean floor and briefly introduces the audience to several different kinds of sharks. Each type of shark gets about 2 minutes of screen time and you never really get much information that way. It mentions that many sharks have been greatly endangered in the past 10 years due to commercial fishing, but in my opinion just mentioning that is not enough. If people SAW sharks being slaughtered and had a more visually arresting look at the problem then that might make much more of an impact than just paying it lip service. It also would have been nice if there had been some sort of information about a foundation or organization people could join to help save sharks and make people aware of their plight. Action speaks much louder than words. The film says that sharks are misunderstood and feared but it doesn’t really explain the history behind this fear or why it persists to this day. They also didn’t explain how low shark attack statistics are and how slim the chances are of being attacked by one. The film said that sharks are at the top of the food chain but it didn’t delve into what would happen if they ceased to exist. They also spent time talking about manta rays, dolphins, fish and other ocean dwellers. That would have been fine if the film was called OCEAN 3D, but it wasn’t.

This film may have been about sharks and the ocean, but it had very little depth. The only part of the film that really grabbed me was at the end when they showed photos of the sharks and listed their status as either “Endangered” or “Critically Endangered.”

This film didn’t really do the sharks justice and it didn’t reflect any of the awesome beauty of these creatures that has captivated me since childhood.

Written by Karie (site owner) on 03/10 at 09:20 AM