Ocean Wonderland 3-D

Nothing shows off the IMAX 3-D camera better than undersea photography, with fish, plankton, and tendrils of seaweed hovering in space before our startled eyes; the 3-D glasses become a diver’s mask, and we have the giddy illusion of being able to breathe under water. This latest swim has its moments of visual splendor, but IMAX has—pun intended—gone to the well a few times too often, and the whole thing quickly grows dull. It doesn’t help that the narration (from the point of view of a sea turtle) is coy and silly, and not especially informative. The closing pitch for saving the coral reefs is a noble one, but the tone is more than a little self-righteous, like one of those “and it’s all your fault” PBS nature documentaries that get shuffled off into the closet when pledge time rolls around.