Disney’s Oceans Trailer
So I guess nature documentaries are back in vogue again. Ever since March of the Penguins made $127 million back in 2005 and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, we’ve been seeing a lot of similar attempts to bring lavish landscapes and cute creatures to the big screen with varying success. Then Oprah re-ignited the craze by plugging the Planet Earth series on her show, and now Disney has launched Disneynature, a spin-off label dedicated solely to nature films.
With their new film Earth hitting theatres today in order to coincide with Earth Day, Disney has also unveiled the trailer for their 2010 Earth Day release, Oceans. Yep, you better get used to it — this is going to become an annual tradition. (I get the feeling that they may be missing the point of Earth Day by turning it into a big commercial venture, but what do I know?) The cool thing about Oceans is that it’s directed by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud who previously did Winged Migration. Disney also has the following nature flicks on deck: The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos, Orangutans: One Minute to Midnight, and Big Cats. While I think nature documentaries can be both fascinating and beautiful, I’m less excited about the Disney approach where they tend to try and make a cute little story out of it all. What do you think, are you excited to see movies like this on the big screen, or do you generally find nature films to be boring? Check out the trailer for Oceans in HD over at Apple.com.
Comments (12)
I like nature documentaries and shows, but I doubt that I would ever pay to watch one on the big screen.
Posted by Kasper F. Nielsen on April 22nd, 2009I watched the trailer and some of it looks computer animated. Is this all real footage or is some of it animated?
Posted by Sara on April 22nd, 2009Some of the shots look like repurposed footage from Planet Earth (which is all their “new” film Earth is), and others look new. Is it a combination, or is it all new footage and I’ve just watched Planet Earth too much?
Posted by Resident01 on April 22nd, 2009They don’t make it cute, although funny at some points. It’s raw and many scenes of animals conquering their prey. They show how they filmed the footage at the end of the documentary so I don’t think it was altered. Finally, Walt Disney had a nature series previously,this has been in the making, not some recently developed thing.More of a continued legacy.
Posted by Jennifer on April 23rd, 2009Also… about Planet Earth
Q. Tell us about the genesis of the movie and how it differs from the BBC series Planet Earth, which supplied about 60% of the footage.
A. We had the movie commissioned at the same time as the television series, so we were able to work on both projects in parallel. From the very beginning, we had a separate script and plan for the movie, (which) was going to tell this extraordinary story of the sun and its seasonal influence on the planet through the eyes of three key characters: the polar bears in the north, the elephants in the tropics and the humpback whales taking us from the tropics to Antarctica to complete the journey.
Posted by Jennifer on April 23rd, 2009This is the shit that should be in the new digital 3D!!! People would literally soil themselves.
Posted by rus in chicago on April 23rd, 2009“I watched the trailer and some of it looks computer animated. Is this all real footage or is some of it animated?”
The mouse and the deer in the beginning were animated yes.
Posted by swarez on April 23rd, 2009I also feel like there is some computer tampering going on with some images. The 3 penguins jumping onto the ice looks suspect and the spinning dolphin as well. In general it looks like highlights and shading (dynamic ranges) have been pushed beyond what “film” usually yields, but it is really hard to tell these things. Any others thinking this???
Posted by Jander on April 28th, 2009Can’t stand US documentaries, such as on the History channel. They are a joke compared to true classics that come from BBC and Australia. Try to make everything so dramatic, it makes me sick. As if you need some presenter announcing absurdly to make nature any better. If it is anything like this, it deserves to die.
Posted by cak on April 28th, 2009I think people take to heart that the word “Disney” appears. They assume that it is made by a money hungry evil corporation and thus end up missing out on some of the best nature footage taken by some of the best camera men and women in the world.
Posted by what on April 29th, 2009They worked with the BBC (not stole) big whoop… Get over it and go see it, then unplug you entire house before logging onto the internet to complain that they aren’t doing their part for earth day. Put it on mute if the narrator bothers you, its the footage you should watch it for.
This film was made by a French company Galatee, they did winged migration and other amazing films. Disney is the main buyer for release. It is a French film 99% more than US of A. There is no computer enhancements in Oceans, only footage by teams of camera crew around the world over 4 years. Filmed in HD with classified beta and gamma positioning it is truly a magnificent spectacle….
Posted by koyonasquatsi on June 5th, 2009I agree with comment 3 and 5, they did take footage from Planet Earth and this is just beating what ever is left of that amazing footage to death with revamped narration by some “Disney” standards probably, also meaning the narration is most likely horrible.
Posted by Joe on August 31st, 2009Leave a Reply