Directed by Howard Hall, who made the equally great IMAX documentary Deep Sea, Under the Sea takes us into the waters of the Great Barrier Reef and other South Pacific locales to show us the extraordinary marine life found there. Hall is a master at capturing elusive images, and his ability to get up close with some of the most fascinating creatures you will ever see is astounding.

Jim Carrey provides the narration, as watch sea snakes slither through the water, cuttlefish engage in their mating ritual (fish porn!), and a crab wear a jellyfish on its head for protection. And what would an undersea documentary be without a visit from a Great White shark? Every single life form we lay eyes on in Under the Sea is a delight, with many of them things you've likely never seen before. The movie ends with a reminder of the damage being done to the Great Barrier Reef, so there's an important ecological message to go along with the joy of discovery.

I watched Under the Sea on an HDTV, and the picture quality was outstanding. The Blu-Ray disc makes it even more so. Sound quality is equally solid. Whether in IMAX or on your living room TV, the film makes you feel like you are scuba diving among the colorful coral and stumbling upon these beautiful creatures.

( out of four)

DVD Features:

IMAX: Under the Sea is presented in widescreen format on DVD or in a DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack. The Blu-Ray contains a very good featurette entitled "Filming IMAX Under the Sea." Via behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Howard Hall, it shows how giant IMAX cameras were taken to great depths to get the remarkable footage. Interestingly, underwater cameras could hold only three minutes of film before needing to be reloaded, which makes the quality of the images Hall captures that much more impressive.

The Blu-Ray contains this same feature, as well as five additional webisodes detailing the production in various locales (two regions of Papua New Guinea, South Australia, the Great Barrier Reef, and Indonesia). We see how the filmmakers bartered with local tribes, exchanging food and supplies. A segment detailing how the sharks were filmed is also highly compelling; one person held the camera while another held a prod to keep the sharks from getting too close. All of the webisodes - which run about 3-4 minutes apiece - are fun to watch, adding to your appreciation of what it took to capture these images on film.

IMAX: Under the Sea is rated G. The running time is 42 minutes.