Keywords: short film, animal, nature documentary, whale, humpback whale,
7.0/10
Humpback Whales Storyline
Narrated by two-time Golden Globe® nominee Ewan McGregor, Humpback Whales is an extraordinary journey into the mysterious world of one of nature’s most awe-inspiring marine mammals. Set in the spectacular waters of Alaska, Hawaii and the remote islands of Tonga, this ocean adventure offers audiences an up-close look at how these whales communicate, sing, feed, play and take care of their young. Captured for the first time with IMAX® 3D cameras, and found in every ocean on earth, humpbacks were nearly driven to extinction 50 years ago, but today are making a slow but remarkable recovery. Join a team of researchers as they unlock the secrets of the humpback and find out why humpbacks are the most acrobatic of all whales, why they sing their haunting songs, and why these intelligent, 55-foot, 50-ton animals migrate up to 10,000 miles round-trip every year.
An important subject, but just an okay documentary
"Humpback Whales" is one of the most recent works by nature documentary filmmakers Greg MacGillivray (two-time Oscar nominee) and Stephen Judson. It is from last year and like most of their works, the title is already a giveaway what this film is about. It runs for slightly under 40 minutes and focuses on humpback whales, a breed of animals that is still endangered (and probably always will be). We get an insight into how they try to survive against whalers coming for them, how people work to keep them from going extinct, how their mating behaviors look like and how new generations learn about this very special breed of whales. But is it really very special? I must say I am a bit disappointed by the filmmakers' take on the subject in this short documentary. It is a subject that has a lot more to offer I believe and the way they made it for the masses (also with the somewhat cringeworthy music used in here), it sometimes felt like a missed opportunity. The reason I say that is that it is not half as informative or relevant as it could have been. But this is nothing really new when it comes to IMAX movies. Still, it is not a weak or even bad film by any means at all and (also as usual) some of the video footage is pretty great in here. I give it a thumbs-up and recommend the watch, even if I am far from as enthusiastic about it as I would have wished I was.
