Peter's DVD rating:  |
|---|
| Despite the hokey plot about a Fijian native asking the filmmakers to find out why "his" reef is dying, this film does manage to offer a few pearls of education, though some facts are simply stated without explanation: "coral reefs have been going strong for 60 million years". Rusi teaches us that we should share the ocean's bounties since "corals share the same stomach" - except corals are acoelomates and do not even have a body cavity, much less an organ such as a stomach. In fact, if you watch David Attenborough's "Coral Seas" from the "Blue Planet" series instead, you can learn that coral polyps actually compete with each other over territory. Another oversimplified soundbite about coral ecology claims that without the Convict Tang to eat the algae, the reefs would die; again the "Coral Seas" offers a more dynamic view of how these fish compete for rerources with other creatures of the reef. This film looks too much like a glorifed vacation shoot: "this is me in a hang glider... me in a lightweight aircraft... me talking to a scientist... me posing with a Potato Cod... me with a cleaner shrimp in my mouth... me with the indigenous people...", and of course "me lugging fancy diving equipment... me in a hospital recovering from the bends...". The climax: will they find the Gray Reef Sharks at Rangiroa Atoll? Don't hold your breath until they reach the famous Tiputa Pass! My ancient classroom computer froze up trying to play disc 2. |
