Oceans: Our Blue Planet IMAX Film at Ontario Science Centre

The IMAX films screened at the Ontario Science Centre are always impressive. The newest documentary, Oceans: Our Blue Planet, opened at the OMNIMAX Theatre on June 9, 2018. This film examines the creatures living in the deepest part of our oceans and how this ecosystem is critically affected by the habits we adopt on land. Produced by BBC Earth and OceanX Media and narrated by actress Kate Winslet, Oceans: Our Blue Planet travels from the tropics to the Arctic, the Great Barrier Reef, Australia to the Galapagos Islands to showcase ocean creatures that many of us have never seen.

The documentary opens with dolphins playing in the surf in Australia, which is a joyful reminder that animals play too!

We are reminded again that as waters warm, corals all over the Great Barrier Reef are bleaching and dying.

Directed by Mark Brownlow (Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, Tiny Giants) and Rachel Butler (Great Barrier Reef), Oceans: Our Blue Planet includes many fascinating scenes that showcase both the intelligence and intuition of sea creatures:

For example, dolphins band together to find a school of fish, only to be followed by sharks who devour the fish, leaving only fish scales in their wake.

We get to see Percy (named for his persistence), a Tuskfish on the Great Barrier Reef, use a boulder coral to smash open his dinner – a clam shell. It takes him about 20-25 tries before he is able to break the shell and enjoy the meat.

A crafty octopus hides under an armour of shells to avoid being eaten by sharks.

In the tropics, adult dolphins demonstrate to a baby dolphin how to rub against a particular coral which may have medicinal properties to protect against inflammation.

We see polar bears on the hunt for baby walruses and Mother walruses taking refuge with their babies on icebergs to escape the polar bears. The problem is, with the warming of our planet, these Arctic icebergs are melting quickly, resulting in a lack of safe spaces for many sea creatures.

The film also teaches about the extraordinary efforts of some sea creatures to survive. For instance, otters have no blubber for insulation so they must eat one third of their body weight on a daily basis in order to maintain their metabolism in the cold waters of the ocean.

Oceans: Our Blue Planet features stunning underwater photography – it’s a film you’ll want your kids to see to understand the delicate relationship between the existence of our ocean creatures and the green practices we choose to follow that will affect the future of our planet.

Oceans: Our Blue Planet has a run time of 40 minutes. Tickets are $9. To purchase tickets, please visit Ontario Science Centre.