User Reviews

It's a very nice feeling watching a documentary like this on the big screen. You can feel the overwhelming power of waves bursting against rocky coastlines and experience the vastness of the ocean.

"Deep Blue" takes you on a journey from the coast to the coral reefs, then to the icy lands of the (ant-)arctic, and finally down to the most fascinating part of this movie: the deepest depths of the ocean, where not a single beam of light shatters through.

Most scenes are greatly composed of very clear, sharp and absolutely stunning images harmonized with the orchestral music of the Berliner Philharmoniker.

In one very nice and humorous scene where you see hundreds of fat penguins shambling over a sheet of ice, I nearly got the impression, also induced through the music, watching the marching scene of Edoras citizens in "Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers". Might sound odd, but I guess I have a faible for "large" scenes with many actors moving on the big screen, supported by a big orchestra. There is another scene like this with little crawfish on the coast choreographed like a sports event.

But in "Deep Blue" you have no special effects. There are literally thousands of "actors" in some scenes. You watch birds falling from the sky, shooting into the waters, grabbing one fish out of a vast swarm. You watch penguins gaining speed under water, jumping out and finally (more or less) safely landing with their round bellies on the sheets of ice. And you're worried about little fish hiding under rocks when carnivore fishes arrive searching for food.

You might have seen most of the animals before, but when they take you some kilometers down you enter a completely different and very fascinating world, which I have never seen before in another documentary - at least not in this clarity.

Down there in this seemingly live threatening environment very, very odd and sometimes scary looking creatures are lingering around. Sometimes you wonder yourself if they just dropped you out of the documentary throwing you right into a science fiction movie.

There are tiny creatures, partly transparent, with moving light bars on their bodies pulsating in rainbow colors. There are little ones generating bright flashes to baffle their enemies. And, well, if you've seen "Finding Nemo" you might recognize the scary looking carnivore with a "light bulb" on his head attracting innocent little fishies.....

So... I rated this documentary 8/10. It's not perfect in my opinion. There is a narrator sometimes throwing in some sentences which are more or less describing the current scene. I think he speaks about 10-15 times in the whole movie. This goes well with the pace and the atmosphere (would be disturbed by too much speaking), but gives you nearly no information about the animals you see on screen. A tiny subtitle in one of the lower edges might have been great showing you the names of the creatures you're currently looking at.

Also I would have done the cutting in a slightly different way. Some scenes are perfect, just beautiful and overwhelming, where other scenes are very much like in the usual TV documentaries.

Overall, this movie is worth watching in the cinema if you have the opportunity to do so. Also, the more people learn to admire the wonders of the ocean, the more chances mankind may have to protect it in the future.

Liked "Winged Migration" and "Microcosmos," "Deep Blue" is a big-screen nature documentary patiently filmed over a period of years. As "Winged Migration" concentrated on the creatures of the air, so "Deep Blue" focuses on creatures of the sea. Reminding us how little we have explored the liquid space of our own oceans, the images here can be beautiful and graceful (dolphins playing in the surf), humorous (a mass of crabs laying eggs on the sand) as well as grim and deadly (killer whales attacking and eating seal pups). The moments of beauty are poignant indeed, and "Deep Blue" has it's share of "wow" moments. It divides itself into various themes; the shallows, the shoreline, the open seas, the polar seas, and the deep. The latter is shot near the deepest places on earth, and several creatures never before photographed are displayed in all their bioluminescent glory. The penguins shooting out of the ocean like biological missiles is quite amazing, and the feeding frenzy of the sharks is terrifying. Michael Gambon's narration is rarely intrusive, but it isn't as informative as I would have liked; they could have used some graphics to at least give you an idea of what creatures you were seeing, or where the shots were located. Still, this is a beautiful film, much of which was filmed for the "Blue Planet" BBC series. It looks frightfully gorgeous on the big screen, although parents should be warned that the seal pup death scenes can be terrifying to younger or more sensitive viewers.

I have just watched three hours of the Galapagos on the National geographic Channel, and am preparing to watch 11 hours on Planet earth on Discovery. What a joy to see this film, narrated by Pierce Brosnan in between.

Fi9lmed at the deepest ocean where no light can pierce, the colors and lights that are created by the inhabitants outshine any laser show that you can imagine.

This is the wonder and beauty of our planet at its best. I cannot imagine why we have to travel to other worlds, when we have this one waiting for us.

Water makes up most of the Earth and, unlike the surface ecosystems, it is the hardest for man to explore, inhabit or bulldoze. It is the closest thing to having a different planet, except right here on Earth. As such I was looking forward to watching this film because of the excellent footage of the many amazing creatures and ecosystems that ever improving technology allow us to get closer to. I'm not really one for nature programmes so maybe that is why I was extra impressed by the film – because such stuff has not become "ordinary" to me. At the start of the film I must admit that I was watching the "ordinary"; whales, crabs and seals fitted into that category to me but once the camera went deeper into the oceans it only became more and more fascinating with such weird and wonderful creatures on display.

This goes for the shallower depths as well, as fish, whales, sharks etc are all very well presented and gorgeous to watch. Indeed that is the strength of the film – the beauty of it. It is fascinating to watch and the expertise in filming shines through from start to finish. However it is the appreciation of the view where the film is weak. Gambon's narration is sparse and even but it only occasionally gives out nuggets of information. I didn't expect detail like David Attenborough would give but it could have done with something more to compliment the visuals. The music covers the lack of narration and generally the score is well pitched to support the air of wonder or pace to the film.

Overall this is a great visual treat, even if it is mostly going to be seen on the small screen. It all looks impressive and is fascinating but a bit more narration and detail would have been useful. Best viewed as a visual experience or as an entry into the wider genre of nature programmes.

I had the opportunity to watch this movie during the Seattle International Film Festival, and I was amazed. I haven't seen the documentary series "Deep Blue Sea" on which it was based, so I cannot comment on how the film compares to that series. What I can say is for any of you who are interested in animal behavior above and below the ocean's surface, you will be amazed. This film has few interruptions between wonderfully paced and edited clips of animal behavior. While I had seen almost all of the animals and plant life that appear in this movie before, this gave me a new and thrilling opportunity to see their lives as the animals themselves do. You hear their voices and experience their emotions. The soundtrack kept me emotionally captivated for the entire 90 minute run time. The filmmakers don't try to narrate the behavior, but let you experience it first hand, to a thrilling effect.

However, this movie is not for the faint of heart. The filmmakers spare no detail in showing close up the threats posed to smaller sea life by larger and more voracious variations of life. With that in mind, I recommend keeping young children away from this movie. The children sitting a few rows in front of me in the theater gasped and held onto their parents during the violent scenes in the film.

If you do see this movie, make a point to do it on the biggest screen you can find, and sit as close as you can.

I've always been slightly surprised by the popularity of nature documentaries , it seems to be the new soccer . You go into a really rough pub that makes Al Swearengen's place in DEADWOOD look like a tea room and hear from the toughest hardest men in there how much they've been enjoying the National Geographic channel . I always keep silent that I much prefer the History channel over National Geographic . Perhaps the reason so many people enjoy these documentaries is because the skill and manipulative nature of the docu film makers makes these films what they are

DEEP BLUE lives up to its name . The water is unbelievably blue as we see dolphins leap out of the ocean in slow motion . Sorry to break this to people but dolphins can and do jump out of the water , but only in real time and never in slo mo . We see a massed army of crabs running around the sands and through some clever editing and sound effects it appears they're having a game of soccer . The music used matches the mood perfectly graceful music is used for graceful animals like dolphins , menacing music is used for sharks and humorous music is used for the penguins

You see the point I'm making ? It's a manipulative beautiful documentary featuring animals that the film makers have humanised and will appeal to the more urbane and abstract nature loves amongst the human race . If I sound cynical perhaps it's because the day after I saw this I took a dip in the Atlantic Ocean where I had to dodge aggressive jellyfish and hungry gulls who were very interested in my picnic . I eventually got home with sunburn on my back and blisters on my feet . Nature is a thing of great beauty but it can be painfully cruel too

"So far we have only touched the surface (...) the greatest experience of nature on screen" proclaimed the leaflets advertising the documentary. Since such films on big screen in cinema are a rarity, as a matter of fact, not many people felt encouraged to see DEEP BLUE. Perhaps, we are too much addicted to action films and all fictions possible. In this way, many of us have forgotten that it is also possible to admire real nature on screen. I also must admit that I am not a fan of such documentaries. What usually bores me in them are the number of sophisticated terms provided to the viewer, which makes it all too scientific. Nevertheless, I went to see DEEP BLUE for the sake of images that addressed my curiosity. And I do not regret! It was wonderful throughout. The film is, foremost, a stunning image which pays tribute to the variety of life, mostly the life under the waters.

First of all, it is important to mention that the documentary is not very long and serves a useful purpose not being a too detailed insight into some facts of life in the ocean. Besides, the film is really visually stunning. You see the underwater world as if you were there. All kinds of fishes of various shapes and colors are a feast for the eyes. You see the entire joy and freedom of their lives as well as the necessity to defend themselves from deadly dangers. The atmosphere is great and the "action" is very involving. Moreover, the philharmonic orchestral music in the background makes the experience even more unforgettable. The most impressive moment for me was when the journey to the deep began and the pictures we could see were fewer and fewer due to darkness. How unbelievable it is how much the sunlight provides to the earth. These creatures that have never seen the light look completely different, as if not from this world. Some of them surprised me totally. Yet, they also have the desire to live... There are also other wonderful moments showing life on the ground, particularly the polar bear and penguins. This is filmed with great commitment, indeed.

DEEP BLUE is not a film for everyone. Some people may not find anything special in it. Perhaps, that is why the cinemas in Poland had it for only 10 up to 15 days while other films are being showed for two months or even longer. Yet, I would recommend DEEP BLUE to anyone who can still admire the variety of beauties on "the planet of life" that the earth, not unintentionally, is. But remember to see it on the big screen. The film is foremost an experience of image!

The BBC spent a lot of money making this film, and it shows.

The underwater footage particularly was fantastic. Deep Blue deserves awards for photography, cinematography, and editing. Many of the life forms and animal (fish, crustaceans and marine mammals) behaviors were unusual and fascinating.

The music was, well, a matter of taste. Sometimes terrific, sometimes overdone, occasionally just loud, intrusive and unnecessary.

All that said, we were very disappointed in the absence of narration throughout. Our kids asked many questions; some we could answer because of prior knowledge or experience; others left us at a loss. There were many strange behaviors (e.g., what were those sand crabs up to? Why exactly does the Orca fling the (dead or dying) sea lion through the air?) that needed explanation. After spending millions on a documentary, they could have spent a little money on a marine biologist to answer all the unanswered questions; make it educational.

After the little sand crabs, there is a sequence of an invasion of much larger crabs that come and go, also without explanation. We do not even know the name of the larger crabs to be able to look them up.

A fraction of the budget could have been devoted to a better "script", which is the single most decisive element in the commercial success of films. Big stars, dumb story = Ben Affleck flop = disappointment.

This was the Black Stallion of documentaries...

We watched this film in school the other day. I thought that it would have just been some half-hour National Geographic special on the ocean, but it was actually a real movie. They showed us creatures at the bottom of the ocean, and more. The cinematography was excellent, and the music score was also well-done. It always fit with what was going on. It wasn't just some footage from Jaws 4 and an Australian-voiced cartoon character making shark jokes. It was a very well done film, and it was narrated by Pierce Brosnan of James Bond fame. I suggest renting it or something. Hope this review was helpful and all. I give Deep Blue an 8/10.

Mostly this film is good. There are problems with the content though. There is a general discontinuity within the film. It is cut in what seems like a hurry - random shots of this or that dolphin in between this or that albatross (why are there so many dolphins in this!).

I would say that it is a "pretty picture" kind of film rather than any kind of film regarding the details of nature or biology. I learnt nothing new from this film.

I don't know why they even try to "enhance" the visual experience with such dynamic music - all this can ever really do is skew the experience. How can you possibly improve the visual qualities of a film like this with music? They did not really succeed here. At times, I was embarrassed to be in the cinema as it felt a lot like a Disney movie.

The sound designer should take a good hard look in the mirror. "Wow! These deep sea creatures look like something from Venus or Neptune! I'll add these Star Trek samples when it flaps it's fin - I'm a genius!". BBC has lost some credibility in this aspect...

Oh, and what the hell is that bit with the crabs?!

I studied marine biology for a couple years in college, and this movie has some of the most amazing underwater footage I've ever seen. It's a fascinating journey into the ocean, particularly the parts that most of us will never see, like the arctic regions and the deepest reaches of the deep ocean. Some of the shots themselves are incredible just in the way the camera crew were able to immerse themselves in the biological communities that they were filming, especially the feeding scenes. Anyone with even a passing interest in the ocean and the mysteries of life on this planet should definitely not miss this. This movie is an explanation for why so many people believe that our planet should be called Oceanus rather than Earth.

Deep Blue, 2003 5/10, 42nd best of 2003, 224th best of the 2000's, 677th all time Not to be confused with the ass-awful Deep Blue Sea, about super-intelligent man-eating sharks. Deep Blue is a Discovery Channel Documentary about life in the oceans of the world, narrated by Pierce Brosnen. This movie had some really cool scenes: Polar Bears attacking Baluga Whales, Killer Whales attacking Humpback Whales, Dolphins pushing schooling fish into a feeding ball, etc. I like watching these things, the only problem is I had seen them all before on the discovery channel... for free. The unfortunate problem with this movie is that it had litterely nothing that I hadn't seen at some time on the discover channel, or the national geographic channel, or animal planet, etc. Thus it was very hard to stay interested in it for over two hours. However, if you like this kind of stuff at all, and haven't seen it all already, than I would say its definitely worth a watch.

When I sat down to watch this movie I thought I would be watching another wildlife programme but how wrong was I.The camera shots were out of this world and how they managed them I cannot imagine.The shots of the killer whales separating the baby whale from its mother defies logic and the Emperor penguins shooting out of the water like mini rockets has to be seen.The highlight of the show to me was the deep sea creatures who can generate their own light and the diversity of them can not be imagined.I thought The blue planet was a classic piece of photography but it has no comparison to this film which has both Aeriel and underwater shots of the highest magnitude.I would say to anyone who enjoys wildlife programmes to watch this film .

The beginning of this documentary is devoid of credits. We see dolphins swimming and leaping in the open water and sea birds diving directly into the ocean to snatch a fish. The narrator (Pierce Brosnan) says, "This is a world of constant jeopardy, an endless cycle of birth, death, and renewal." Powerful waves crash into the rocky coast, where the sea lions return to give birth, but unwary seals become prey to predators (the black and white colored killer whales) in the shallows at high tide. Then again, the whales themselves risk being stranded there.

More marine life is seen before the view shifts to the coral reefs, "a narrow band of sun-fed life only found in the shallows of the tropical seas." The skeletons of coral polyps – the smallest and most fragile of organisms – form the reef. The darkness is feeding time for some; the night-feeders with built-in sensors have no need of light. Fascinating and colorful sea creatures abound further below the ocean surface, but unfortunately most are not identified. There are poisonous jellyfish and manta rays. Just before the halfway mark of the film the scene moves to the Arctic (polar bears) and also Antarctic (penguins). In the Antarctic the temperature is seventy degrees below zero (-70°F) and the winds exceed one hundred miles per hour. The penguins gather speed in the cold waters before jumping out and landing on sheet ice. Meanwhile in the far north the polar bears search for nesting seals hidden in ice caves situated just below the surface. Thirty-ton gray whales travel six thousand miles to feed in the polar seas. After six hours of jostling, killer whales separate one unfortunate gray calf from its mother and move in when it is thoroughly exhausted.

From the surface of the ocean we next enter a subterranean world, the deepest underwater area on the planet and where surface light does not penetrate. Seven miles deep (the Marianas Trench), it is a mystery world of perpetual night. It is a sparsely explored netherworld of odd life forms (again unidentified). The only light emanates from the undersea creatures themselves. Light is used as a lure to attract prey or as a decoy to confuse them. Poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas and boiling water spew forth in some areas. Yet, even near those settings some life forms exist. At film's end we hear that there are only a few thousand blue whales left on earth. The blue whales are earth's largest creatures by far.

The narration is limited and the orchestral music appropriate. If you like nature documentaries, you will enjoy this one, although there are several lulls.

Reading some of the previous comments I feel that I must have been watching a different Deep Blue. Although i found some of the visuals stunning i felt that much of it was appalling. Some of the 'out of water'shots looked horrible, reminded me of watching games on a Commodore 64!!! As some others have said, much of this footage has been seen before, so i really didn't see the point of this movie. The musical score was good and it did match the footage well. If sea life is your thing, I would recommend the Blue Planet. Note of interest: did anybody else actually find some of the footage very poor. I watched on a widescreen LCD (brand new), so perhaps the poor quality arose because of the screen size.

I did not expect much from this film. I saw "March of the Penguins" and was bored to death of the mundane view of penguins doing almost nothing. But this one was much more diverse, and at times funny and entertaining. So I actually kind of liked it to an extent.

The views of the kills were nice. The Killer Whales playing with their food and flipping them up in the air was crazy. The Killer Whales and the baby Blue Whale was also kind of neat. And don't forget the polar bears and their experiences fishing.

Many of the strange exotic creatures in the deep sea were awesome. What about the fish with those razor sharp teeth. And I can't forget the exotic creature that lit up like a Christmas tree.

Despite all this good stuff, sometimes it was slow and no interesting. But it keeps up enough of a pace to make it interesting. "C+"

Having been recommended Deep Blue from watching Oceans(2009) just a couple of days back, I was astounded by it. The visuals are sharp and clear, with the sceneries gorgeous and like with Oceans Deep Blue contains some of the best underwater photography I have seen not just recently but ever. The music is wonderful and fits perfectly. The narration is intelligent, if lacking in detail compared to other documentaries I've seen, and delivered in an understated way by Pierce Brosnan in the English version. The animals steal the show alongside the visuals, often cute(the penguins) or menacing(killer whales), and any scene with them conveys an emotional impact of some kind, whether a scene of beauty like with the dolphins or grim with the killer whales killing its prey. All in all, a visual masterpiece and certainly interesting. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I went along knowing nothing of this film, but came out utterly amazed by it. I thought it was as good as Return of the King - and that's saying something since I'm such a fan of Lord of the Rings I actually went to New Zealand and was in Wellington for the premiere of ROTK.

Although I didn't shed a single tear for ROTK, I was in tears within five minutes. The cause? The sight of a whole school of dolphins leaping out of water. It was such a beautiful sight. I cried three times in total.

The camera work was breathtaking. They must have taken years to get all the shots.

The cast was in the thousands. The orca whales were the Uruk-hai of the sea, the sharks were the orcs. The jellyfish get the award for best costume. The penguins are like the hobbits - they supply the laughs.

There is so much drama here. There is a scene with sharks and fish and the fish hide under rocks and I was literally screaming (in my mind).. 'Stay where you are! Don't move!" It was like the scene where the hobbits are being chased by the Black Riders.

And if you're interested in geology there are fantastic shots of the mid-Atlantic ridge. Breath-taking shots of it. And hydrothermal vents. Wonderful

I am still incoherent with amazement at this film. Worth even a second viewing.

This is an amazing movie about life in the ocean. I have never seen any movie that comes close in visual beauty. Every shot is astounding. It is as emotionally engaging as Bambi was for me when I saw it an age 5. It a labour of love. The amount of work that went into this film is staggering.

Pierce Brosnan narrates sparingly. The movie generates awe and wonder, not intellectual understanding.

The film is bursting with creatures I have never seen before, so fantastic and strange at times I felt I must be watching the creations of some mad 3D animator on LSD, or Fellini's ghost.

You want to see this on the big screen.

My only complaint is about the Foley artist, Brian Moseley, whose "natural" sound effects are positively silly, obviously not the actual sounds of the creatures or the ocean. Thankfully, the original score played by the Berlin Philharmonic covers up most of those ridiculous Star Trek swooshes and gurgling toilets.

Only in retrospect do you wonder about how the cameramen created so many impossible shots. There is not a human or a human artifact anywhere in the movie. Nature is presented in pristine perfection.

This film is breathtaking, with an orchestral soundtrack to match. From enormous shoals of fish to blue whales, from seabirds on the surface to the very depths of the Marianas Trench, it is a visual wonder. It is based on the BBC's magnificent documentary series "The Blue Planet". This film, however, is a very much watered-down version of the documentary; there is very little commentary or plot. All in all I found it rather disappointing - it nearly sent me to sleep. Don't get me wrong, this film has its place as eye-candy which doesn't require any brain to watch, but don't expect an intellectual experience - get the DVD of The Blue Planet if that's what you want.

You've seen nature documentaries before but never any so strikingly beautiful as this.

It's a tour of the oceans, top and bottom, tropical and arctic. I have no idea of how the crew could have gotten some of these startlingly revealing shots. How, for instance, do you get close enough to a polar bear to film its attempt to catch a beluga whale without disturbing the bear itself? I mean, the bear can't be blind! Telephoto lenses, yes, but these images are crisp and clear, as if shot from ten feet away.

It's less "academic" than it is an aesthetic experience. No scientific names. Pierce Brosnan's sparse narration keeps us abreast of what we're watching and what's going on. That pile of big pebbles is actually a group of emperor penguins huddled together for warmth against the antarctic blizzard. You wouldn't know it without the narration, except that every once in a while a penguin's head pops up out of the gray pile and glances around for a few seconds.

The musical score is as lyrical and majestic as the visual imagery, which may be good or not so good, but it never becomes cloying. It resembles Debussy as impressionist, all about nature and movement.

If this had appeared in, say, 1968, the weed heads would have flocked to it. But these days they're all grown up and don't need to alter their state of consciousness to appreciate what they're witnessing. The film itself will take care of that.

It's in no way a tree-hugger movie. Well, Brosnan's narration ends with a question. Are we in the process of destroying this before we've come to understand it? It's a legitimate and completely non-political query.

This is one of the best movies of marine lives. We can watch another universe into the sea. Beautiful images and music make us feel so comfortable. In the sea, it is very different world; however, we have sympathy and impression.

The movie, "Deep Blue", show us how the marine creatures live in mysterious sea. In the deep blue world, these creatures don't live without using their wisdom. So I was very surprised at their great power to survive. The polar bear dives into icy ocean and hunt a bigger dolphin for its hungry cub. Emperor penguins have gone without food in order to protect their eggs for three months on the ice of 50 points below zero. It is not only very beautiful but also sad that shakes and dolphins and sea birds fight in water with aiming the school of sardines.

The story into the sea is the drama without plot, but for lives in the water, life and death are to their side. So, it's not game; it's serious. They live desperately, so I was much moved. There are cruel scenes, for example the hunting of a killer whale, but it is reality. However, it is interesting in inexperienced world, and we can feel so wonderful, as if you took a trip to all over the sea. You will meet various lives and experience something priceless in this trip. I hope you have nice trip!!

This is one of the most beautifully and artistically done nature films I have ever seen in my lifetime. Rarely do I ever see a nature film in the theater. I will generally just rent the video, but I completely and wholly regret not seeing this one in the theater. Once I did see it by rental, I had to own it. Rarely do I ever purchase nature films for my home library, but this was an absolute must. I have brought this DVD to gatherings, where I knew we'd be there for several hours, and I'd pop this in in one of the rooms where people would be going in and out of. It completely mesmerized so many people, to where they went out and purchased the DVD also. They could have completely omitted the shark/seal scene, however, but that is the only complaint I have, which is minor. Do see this, you will not regret it.