Disney attempts to re-make its more earnest predecessor (Planet Earth) without giving any credit to the original...  While much of its photography is quite beautiful, it often feels staged.  The reef portions of the film feel as though they were shot in a tank, and many other portions seem as though they’ve been digitally doctored.  Furthermore, the over-produced sound design is distracting, and the scripting not as clever as Planet Earth.

Still, Oceans has its merits.  Any child will be wide-eyed and fascinated by the creatures depicted here, especially on the big screen.  Plus, the film certainly aims to honor and respect the creatures it documents, and is ultimately selling environmentalism to the Disney crowd, (who likely aren’t rushing out for An Inconvenient Truth or Food Inc), so more power to them.  We need all the awareness we can get, no matter how manufactured the form.