FILM REVIEW: DEEP BLUE

By Robert K. Elder

Chicago Tribune Staff Writer

3 stars

If nature films had genres, "Deep Blue" would be an action movie.

It's almost as if filmmakers Andy Byatt and Alastair Fothergill made a list of the most dramatic, violently poetic spectacles in the oceanic food chain and went to town.

Sea lions vs. killer whales? Check.

Fat Emperor penguins rocketing themselves from water to land? Check.

Giant, breathtakingly blue, man-killing waves curling and crashing? Check.

Not all of "Deep Blue" is actionactionaction!, though the BBC-produced film provides a primarily visual experience with little story and a calming, spare narration by Pierce Brosnan. Absent of any detailed educational voiceover, "Deep Blue" lacks academic credentials or the dramatic punch of "Winged Migration."

But in terms of pure visual scope, "Deep Blue" might be one of the best IMAX films never created for the IMAX screen (the documentary is a standard Cineplex release).

We get pulled deep into sardine schools as sharks and other meat-eaters indulge in a sand-swirling feeding frenzy. But we've seen that before. "Deep Blue" succeeds best when revealing the unusual, such as ocean floor creatures who use their own chemical mixture for light bursts that confuse and/or lure predators and prey. One chandelier-like aqua dweller emits a rainbow-colored display that's absolutely hypnotic.

A timpani-pounding original music score by George Fenton lends some momentum to "Deep Blue's" visual muscle relaxants (don't see the movie after a big meal; you might end up comfortably asleep).

The film's G rating might be a bit misleading; while no humans were hurt in its production, a few dying sea lions become ping-pong balls for killer whales and a gray whale calf meets an early, bloody end. It's not anything the Discovery Channel doesn't already offer, but small children should still be forewarned.

"Deep Blue"

Directed by Andy Byatt and Alastair Fothergill; narrated by Pierce Brosnan; photographed by Doug Allan, Mike deGruy, Peter Scoones, Simon King, Rick Rosenthal and Bob Cranston; original music by George Fenton; edited by Martin Elsbury; produced by Sophokles Tasioulis and Alix Tidmarsh. A Miramax release; opens Friday, July 1. Running time: 1:30. MPAA rating: G.