Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure Blu-ray

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure

 (2007)

Adventure | Animation | Documentary



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.

For more details about Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure on Blu-ray, see the Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure Blu-ray Review

Narrator: Liev Schreiber
Director: Sean MacLeod Phillips

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure Blu-ray, Video Quality

 


While we unfortunately don’t get the 3-D mix, Sea Monsters’ 1080p, AVC-encoded transfer is crisp and striking. The CGI isn’t the most stunning I’ve seen, but it’s all rendered smoothly, with no video hiccups or compression artifacts. 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 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. Overall, this is a great transfer from Nat Geo (has that caught on yet?).

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 


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).

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure Blu-ray, News and Updates

• Sea Monsters Announced for Blu-ray - February 25, 2008

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure Blu-ray, Forum Discussions

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