In 2011, Universal dipped its toe into 3D nature documentary waters with a trio of poorly received June releases: Ocean Wonderland 3D, Dolphins and Whales 3D and Sharks 3D. Underwhelming and overpriced, with rickety video transfers and hit or miss 3D presentations, the wayward docs can still be spotted in the wild, huddled together on the shelves of Best Buys everywhere. Fast forward to 2013. Universal is pulling a repeat performance with three more generic and wholly uninspiring undersea 3D bores; not in June but in January, when fewer titles are flooding the market and ravenous shoppers are more desperate than usual. Which brings us to Amazing Ocean 3D, Fascination Coral Reef 3D, and the cumbersomely titled Fascination Coral Reef 3D: Mysterious Worlds Underwater, budget documentaries sans those pesky budget prices. And it gets worse. Rather than bundle all three together at a reasonable cost, the studio is releasing each one individually, problematic 3D video presentations and all, at a premium price. So beware: rough waters ahead...
Pearls in the Indian Ocean. This is how we perceive these islands: the Maldives. They shine brightly in shades of white and green in the azure blue, glittering sea. Merely a small section can be seen from the air, as, for the part, they are hidden beneath the surface. Unbelievable coral reefs close to the Equator, sustained and shaped by strong currents, rich in oxygen, carrying huge plankton swarms. A richly laid table. No wonder there are so many diners. A paradise, albeit with problems. Multitudes of tourists arrive annually. New islands are exploited and new problems created time and again. We want to tell you about this fairytale underwater world. Those who don't know it cannot love it and protect it.
And so we arrive. More educational than Amazing Ocean 3D and more enchanting than Fascination Coral Reef, Mysterious Worlds Underwater finds a comfortable middle ground amidst the fish, flora and fauna of the reef, conveying the magic and mystery of its inhabitants without treating its audience like kindergarteners or glazed over late-night Discovery Channel addicts. The armored trunkfish is "uncertain, like an elderly lady in a heavy costume," one that secretes venomous slime when threatened; a practice that endangers the creature when defending itself in tight spaces. The charming paired with the informative. Or the clown triggerfish, who "can grate his teeth and play a nifty drum solo on his swim bladder," among other things, most more practical and better suited to surviving and, more crucially, thriving in the reef.
Sadly, Mysterious Worlds Underwater suffers in other regards, all of them fundamental. The photography is pedestrian (almost to the point of occasionally rendering the second Fascination Coral Reef a series of amateur diver videos), the 3D presentation amounts to little more than a small bonus (and a lackluster one at that), and the score features the sort of music you might hear while holding for the next available representative. Budget is no doubt a major factor -- the documentary ascribes to the tell, don't show school of editing, presumably because the filmmakers were working with limited stereoscopic footage captured on a tight schedule -- but apart from the competently scripted, grandfatherly narration, there isn't anything here to justify the cost of admission or the time spent swimming through such shallow, murky waters.
Fascination Coral Reef 3D and Fascination Coral Reef 3D: Mysterious Worlds Underwater may be two halves of the same whole, but, as far as technical encodes go, Mysterious Worlds Underwater shares much more in common with Amazing Ocean. In fact, the two feature strikingly (or rather not so strikingly) similar 1080p/MVC MPEG-4 transfers and 3D presentations, each one equally riddled with issues, chief among them severe and prevailing aliasing, intermittent macroblocking and banding, and instances of everything from slight color bleeding to unsightly noise, edge halos and other eyesores. Some of the anomalies trace back to the source, no doubt. But the entire experience looks, at best, like a first or second generation 1080i BD, and, at its worst, like a poor DVD-era upconvert. The 3D presentation has shortcomings of its own -- general flatness, limited pop, more abundant aliasing and a lack of standout moments -- and is quite prone to ghosting, even though it should be said that crosstalk is almost always a product of the 3D display or glasses rather than the encode. Simply put, Mysterious Worlds Underwater's video presentation shouldn't please anyone, and takes a devastating toll on an already teetering release.
Fascination Coral Reef 3D and Fascination Coral Reef 3D: Mysterious Worlds Underwater feature near-identical DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround tracks, but that's actually a good thing. Granted, the documentaries' sound design is by no means first rate. That said, the addition of LFE output (underutilized though it may be) and rear speaker activity makes the resulting sonic experiences fuller and more satisfying. Music is by far the most refined element in the soundfield, as well as the one thing that takes advantage of the entire soundstage. Light directional effects are present, the flow and warble of the ocean is passably immersive, and there aren't any glaring issues; certainly none that are as distracting as those that plague the discs' video presentations. Narration is clear, intelligible and nicely prioritized too, despite the fact that the score is a touch domineering at times. Still, each Fascination Coral Reef lossless track is easily the highlight of its respective release, and the one redeeming aspect of each AV presentation.
Amazing Ocean 3D features more rewarding photography but is better suited to young children, Fascination Coral Reef 3D is more interesting but awfully dry and uneventful, and Fascination Coral Reef 3D: Mysterious Worlds Underwater strikes a better balance but struggles with dull visuals and much too routine ocean sights and sounds. All three, though, flounder with mediocre video transfers and disappointing 3D presentations, and arrive barebones, without any special features whatsoever. And all three are overpriced, when a budget-priced, three-film bundle would have been far more appealing (although nearly as underwhelming). I'd recommend skipping all three, unless a 3D sale lands the trio in the bargain bin.
This January, Universal Studios Home Entertainment is bringing three undersea nature documentaries to Blu-ray: Amazing Ocean, Fascination Coral Reef and Fascination Coral Reef: Mysterious Worlds Underwater. All three 3D/2D Blu-ray Combo Packs arrive on January ...
Fascination Coral Reef 3D: Mysterious Worlds Underwater Blu-ray, Forum Discussions
