Oceans

Directed by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud(G)

***

Though not shot in 3-D, Oceans is a thoroughly immersive experience, said Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly. For this exquisitely shot documentary—the second in a series from Disneynature, a film label created to take big-screen looks at life on the planet—French filmmakers Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud plunged into the planet’s five oceans to reveal the “otherworldly creatures that roam the ocean floor.” The directors plumb depths never previously caught on camera, portraying “the literal, tactile texture of all those elegant sci-fi beings” that live down there—from the rocky spine of a stonefish to the cushiony underbelly of a blue whale. With a score by Bruno Coulais, the film unfolds like a symphony of the sea, said Rachel Saslow in The Washington Post. Only Pierce Brosnan’s bland, uninformative narration intrudes. Wisely, the directors usually opt for silence, said Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News, ­letting these stunning creatures command the spotlight. All the viewer has to do is dive in.