Endangered coral reefs exposed for all to see

I may be a bit biased- as I have dived all the reefs shown in this movie, and have enjoyed diving in Fiji with Rusi Vulakoro, focus of the film (and dove with Rusi again for two weeks in November 2003, for the last time, as he has now retired.) The footage is superb- showing Australia's enormous Great Barrier Reef, French Polynesia's Rangiroa Atoll (with a huge school of about 300 grey whalers / grey reef sharks) and lots of Fiji's world-class reefs- from its spectacular soft corals to the eutrophication of a once-vital reef just offshore to one of Fiji's islands. One even sees how the huge IMAX camera is maneuvered in "Rangi's" stiff currents, as well as in 107 meters / 350 feet of depth as cinematographer Howard Hall and scientist Richard Pyle discover fish completely new to science, using CIS Lunar Mark 4-P rebreathers.

The sound track is excellent, the footage outstanding, and the explanation of why coral reefs are failing, while basic, is quite accurate: overfishing of reef inhabitants, silt from logging and development, and waters warmed by the global warming some still deny and the El Niño / Southern Oscillation phenomenon.

Unfortunately gone missing in the simplification are fishing for aquarium specimens and food fish with cyanide, dynamite fishing, coral removal for various commercial schemes, and inflow of insecticides and fertilizers, as on barrier reefs off Australia and Central America. And some explanations and scenes are, shall we say, a little bit "embellished" up for effect... but in the end, this is an awesome movie. Divers will love it, those who do not dive will begin to get an idea of why we who do actually dive and travel to such wonderful places. Those concerned about reefs' well-being will be gratified there is some information how people can help conserve reefs, with some prominent mention being given to NGO Reef Check and its activities involving sport divers.

If you enjoy underwater film, this is a "MUST SEE". A very good supporting book (Living Mirrors: A Coral Reef Adventure, by Jack Stephens, Umbrage Editions, ISBN 1-8844167-26-8) is available, and Coral Reef Adventure is also available in VHS and DVD editions; I bought the DVD, and it's nice to still be able to see Rusi diving and all Fiji's underwater denizens, even when I am at home.

HD-DVD Wow!

I bought this disk because it was the first-ever high definition 1080progressive scan DVD made to run on a pc that has windows media 9 and a fancy graphics card.
This is a drop-dead gorgeous movie to watch. And unlike the other existant HD-DVD, it is easy to use.
I look foward to purchasing other nature films released in this format. My only regret about this beautiful, intelligent movie is that it is an advocacy film for environmental preservation of coral reefs but it does not give its intended audience a clear push out-of-the-door to act in a meaningful way to save the oceans through legislation etc. Maybe I am being policy-wonkish here, but feel-good propaganda that does not motivate people is dishonest to its intents.
Liam Nieson narrates excellently, the underwater cinematography is pristine and the audience develops an appreciation of the coral reef milleau. music is goofy but fun.
see this movie on a 1200x1600 monitor if you can, there is nothing like it!

Simply Beautiful

I bought this DVD only for the eye candy WMVHD version...and I wasn't disappointed. The video quality is simply spectacular !