Wild Ocean

The latest IMAX 3-D documentary returns once again to the underwater setting that always shows the format off to its best advantage. Directed, written, edited and scored by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, this one takes us to the east coast of South Africa, which (the narration tells us) is one of few areas of the world where the natural food chain hasn’t been disrupted by overfishing and global warming (fortunately, the obligatory environmentalist scolding is confined to the opening and closing minutes). Cresswell and McNicholas certainly know their craft(s), but it’s not entirely a two-man show; special credit goes to cinematographers Reed Smoot and D.J. Roller, whose sweeping images of swirling schools of sardines, diving gannets and prowling sharks have a spellbinding, almost surreal beauty.