Sea Monsters 3-D Blu-ray delivers great video and solid audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
For nearly 200 million years while dinosaurs roamed the Earth, the seas teemed with some of
the most awe-inspiring ocean creatures of all time. Sea Monsters, a National Geographic Giant
Screen film, is an entertaining journey into prehistoric oceans. Inter-cutting between the
animated story and the reenactments of fossil discoveries combine the appeal of "Indiana
Jones" with the CGI that brings these prehistoric monsters to life. Perfect for the whole family.
Almost every kid goes through a dinosaur phase, a brief window of awe and wonder when backyards
can be transformed into T-Rex stomping grounds and swimming pools become haunts for monsters
of the deep. These flights of imagination are usually supported by a host of arcane facts—dino trivia
if you will—and in my third grade class there was an elite group of junior brainiacs who knew the
average neck length of Plesiosaurs, the stride distance of Velociraptors, and scoffed at kids who
thought the Brontosaurus was a real dinosaur. "It was an Apatosaurus with a misidentified
skull…duh." For this cadre of pint-sized dino-enthusiasts, National Geographic was a hallowed
source of info. Those who had parents with subscriptions to the yellow-fringed magazine shared the
contents during recess with protective reverence. We were too young still to gape at the topless
tribal women—weird, we would say—but the articles on paleontology enraptured us, and
we picked through them for facts like fossil hunters combing the bone-strewn plains of Kansas. If
we had gone on a field trip to the nearest IMAX to catch Sea Monsters on the big, big
screen, I'm sure we would've flipped. The film brings prehistoric, aquatic creatures to life though the
magic of CGI, and offers up a platter of scientific particulars that would satisfy even the most
discerning of grade-school dinophiles.
The film couches its educational elements in a narrative about Dolly, a young Dolichorhynchops—
the name means "long snout face"—who ventures with her brother and mother into the vast
Interior Sea of what is now North America, some 80 million odd years ago. I say narrative, but
there are no Ice Age-style hijinks here, and Sea Monsters doesn't feature any
talking, anthropomorphized creatures. It's a rather straightforward birth-to-death storyline that
follows Dolly as she grows and matures, escapes predators, and ultimately succumbs to old age.
Along the way she encounters a number of heretofore-unknown species—this is where the mini-
geeks will perk up—from the Enchodus, a "saber-toothed salmon," to the Tylosaurus, a forty-foot
behemoth that prowls the ocean for unsuspecting prey. The tale is told through sometimes-
stunning CGI, although the models and environments look fairly outdated compared to modern
theatrical offerings from Pixar and Dreamworks.
Breaking up the CGI sequences are live-action scenes that show paleontologists throughout the
years making important discoveries that often relate to Dolly's journey. Famed fossil-finder
Charles Sternberg goes hunting for bones in his Ford Model T, a road crew in Texas unearths
ancient Ammonites, and a team of grad students eventually investigate Dolly's final resting place.
These segments show all the sharpness and clarity that's typical of IMAX films, but the acting is
stiff and shoddy—not that it'll likely matter to the target pre-teen audience. Sea Monsters was shown in IMAX 3-D during its theatrical run, and the experience is
recreated here, albeit with eye-straining, anaglyphic lenses that are far less comfortable than the
RealD glasses used now in most theaters. The paper frames aren't the most comfortable—four
are included with the disc—and the red and blue filters suck all the nuanced color out of the
image, but Sea Monsters is still lots of fun in home video 3-D. The film has a good mix of
effects—depth of field is subtly enhanced, half-submerged shots will remind you of swimming in a
pool with goggles on, and there are plenty of in-your-face, watch-out-the-monster-is-coming-
right-toward-us moments that will leave the kiddies scrambling for cover. The rest of the
presentation is just as solid. Peter Gabriel—yes, that Peter Gabriel—contributes an
engaging, full-bodied score, and actor Liev Schreiber gives concise narration that's sometimes dry,
but never dull. At a mere 40 minutes, Sea Monsters is perfectly timed for a trip to the
aquarium, but it does come off as a bit too short when viewed at home. It's nearly over before it
begins, and unless your kid is a diehard dino-freak who wants to pick out all the details, there's
not much meat on Sea Monsters' fossilized bones. Still, it's both educational and
entertaining—perfect for those school-free summer months.
This re-release includes the 2-D and 3-D versions of the film, both receiving 1080p/AVC-encoded
transfers. The 2-D version is obviously preferable from a purely video quality perspective, with a
crisp, clean IMAX image. Colors are deep and pleasingly saturated—the prevalent blues really
shine—and solid black levels give the otherwise 2-D image some vibrant dimensional pop. The
film is tack-sharp too, with no cheap tricks like edge enhancement to muddle the look. The
sequences shot on film are similarly impressive, featuring that big, bold IMAX look that revels in
clarity and resolution, with the thinnest layer of grain to add some warmth to the image. The CGI
isn't the most stunning I've seen, but it's all rendered smoothly, with no video hiccups or
compression artifacts. It should be noted that the original IMAX aspect ratio has been cropped
down to 1.78:1, but this is of little detriment and allows the film to fully fill out your
TV.
The 3-D version is expectedly diminished in quality, not due to any fault of the transfer, but
simply because the anaglyphic, red and blue glasses rob the image of clarity and color. You'll
probably want to bump up the brightness of your display—a disclaimer on the disc recommends
"Standard" instead of "Cinema" mode—but the image is never going to look as good as a RealD
presentation. You'll notice some blurry double-vision, especially if you sit too close to your display,
and much of the vivid color of the 2-D version is muddled and desaturated in three dimensions. I
don't expect the target audience to be hardcore videophiles, though, and the 3-D wow factor will
be enough to impress most kids.
While not as impressive as the film's PQ, Sea Monsters' Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track
serves its purpose well. Peter Gabriel's score is the most prevalent element of the mix, and it fills
every channel with dynamic arrangements and a fairly wide spread between speakers, allowing
individual instruments to pop in and out with some interesting directionality. Though there are
some bubbles and gurgles in the rears—along with some swooshes and panned swim-bys—most of
the ambient audio does seem front-centric. Liev Schreiber's narration is mostly clear and clean,
though there are a few instances when the watery sound effects drown him out a bit (har har).
Interactive Timeline
This timeline is actually pretty low on interactivity, but you can explore the Triassic, Jurassic, Early
Cretaceous, and Late Cretaceous periods by clicking on a map, viewing the animals that lived during
each era, and reading a little bit about them. Kids won't have the patience though, and neither will
most adults.
Along with three brief informational videos about National Geographic, the disc also includes SD
trailers for March of the Penguins, Arctic Tale, Sky Monsters, and the
Sea Monsters video game.
Today's kids take this CGI business for granted. I remember I almost died when watching
Jurassic Park, I was that awe-struck. So, your kid's interest in Sea Monsters may vary
depending on his or her love of dinosaurs and familiarity with more impressive CGI fare from the
likes of Pixar. There's a certain caliber of kid who'll just eat this stuff up, though, and for them,
Sea Monsters will be like manna from heaven. It's definitely on the short side, but it does
strike a nice balance between informative and fun. Plus, what kid doesn't love 3-D?
As we reported on Monday, 'Monsters vs. Aliens' will be released on Blu-ray on September 29. However, the edition won't include the movie in 3-D, despite its great success with theatrical 3-D showings. The reason given is that the 3-D technology developed for movie ...
Warner Home Video has announced that they will bring 'Sea Monsters 3D' to Blu-ray on August 11th, day-and-date with the DVD release. This IMAX film has previously been released in its 2D version on Blu-ray, but is being released now in its 3D version (the 2D version ...
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