This year's "Earth Day" is marked by the release of "Oceans," a lush documentary about the magnificent waters that cover more than 70 percent of the earth's surface and the vast number of creatures that live there despite pollution and human depredation.
Led by Pierce Brosnan's commanding narration, filmmakers Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud explore immense regions of the ocean's depths to celebrate the wild and colorful herbivores, carnivores, and detritivores that live there.
Although it sounds like the kind of documentary you've seen a thousand times before, "Oceans" takes full advantage of state-of-the-art technology to show audiences a crystal-clear vision of such intriguing sea creatures as the Red Sea's Dugong Marsa Alam and the intricately cloaked Garden Eel living in Indonesia's Lembeh Strait.
The filmmakers are careful to spend the majority of the film celebrating the dramatic and peaceful rituals of a wide variety of ocean animals, while punctuating the film eloquently and briefly with the enormous problem of plastics and pollution being dumped into the oceans.
Most disturbing is satellite footage that shows the dark streams of pollution emanating from American rivers directly into the seas.
Rated G. 84 mins.
