13 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :- It ain't a movie - it's another world, 23 December 2000
Author:
Loff24 from Portugal
I was a fan of Luc Besson since 1997, when I saw "Léon". And since I saw
that movie, I scoured every video store looking for his films. Some were
easy to find (The Fifth Element and Nikita were broadcasted), some weren't
("Subway" and "The Big Blue" had to be imported). Atlantis was the kind of
movie I never expected to get my hands on. So you can see what I looked
like
when a German site had the video on stock. I waited two long months,
expecting to see that movie I always wanted to see. When the movie finally
arrived, I turned off all the lights, covered the led of the video,
covered
the little light of the TV and sat in my room with the stereo real loud.
And
the movie was a child-like dream. I heard many people saying it was a
failure, I heard many people saying it was boring... It's all lies. I
can't
describe the movie by writing what I thought of it. It's difficult to talk
about a movie which doesn't talk to the ears but directly to the heart.
Here
we have the impression that there is another planet... down there. Like in
the snake scene. She moves like the snakes do, but the water is so clear
that it seems like she and the others around her are floating in a
aetherium. And the impression I got during the movie was that sometimes we
just have to open ourselves to the sheer experiences of life and let go.
This movie plays in our minds like a beautiful dream, and there are few
movies that can do it. The love of the director by the ocean has never
been
so clear. And by making this movie, he somewhat passes on his message and
makes us love the ocean also. Full praise to this work of art! Besson
never
stopped amazing...
9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :- Fabulous underwater photography and musical score, 12 July 2003
Author:
Trukdiver (strong@guam.net) from Guam Island, USA
I picked up this DVD, never having heard of it before. In my 34
years of diving I don't remember a more beautiful underwater film.
There is no bothersome narration to get in the way (some appears
just in the opening). The manta ray scene set to Maria Callas
opera is so powerful that applause appears at the end of it! The
Atlantic spotted dolphins are in a ballet that seems perfectly
choreographed. I will treasure this DVD and show it to all my
dinner guests -- all of whom are divers!
9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :- Beautiful!, 29 April 2003
Author:
yossarian100 from usa
Atlantis is more visual art than nature film and a 'must see' for any Luc
Besson fan. The film captures the feel of what it's actually like to swim
underwater better than any film I've ever seen, perfectly illustrating
the
form and texture of sea water. Beautiful. Highly recommended for anyone
interested in visual arts or diving.
5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- great photography - great panning, 8 March 1999
Author:
Richard Bean (rwb@maths.uq.edu.au) from Brisbane, Queensland
The photography was spectacular. This is much better seen
on a large screen. The mating scenes between seals
reminded me of humans, and dugongs eating a cabbage like
substance was remarkably human-like too. A turtle swimming
underwater looks like a bird flying through air, and the
camera angles circling animals are great. Shark frenzies
and teeth are shown close up. Unlike the other viewers,
I
thought perhaps this was not long enough, though near the
beginning I had several concentration lapses (even the
second time I watched it). The camera technique is better
than David Attenborough's shows, and the last two scenes
are some of the best in the film. Some scenes are slow-motion
(the waves) and some are sped up (the seal family) but
it
seems to suit the atmosphere and it's hard to tell.
The panning over coral (the Great Barrier Reef) really
reminds me of Koyaanisqatsi, and overall it's great and
better than Microcosmos. A 10 just for photography.
5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :- My all time favorite film!, 3 September 2001
Author:
grapevine09 (grapevine09@hotmail.com) from USA
The strange thing about this movie is that there is almost no talking. I
guess that is why it is so great! Everything you look for in a great
movie
is there: Love, hate, adventure, great music and beautiful camera work.
It
takes you to a whole new world. If you love the underwater world or not,
this movie will make you want to go there and stay there forever! If you
haven't seen it yet and you get the chance to (and believe me it doesn't
come along that often), then take it!
4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- Long live the VALHALLA!, 28 January 1999
Author:
mifunesamurai from Australia
In the mid-1980's I spent my youth at the Palace of dreams, Valhalla. A
classic art deco independent cinema in the suburb of Glebe, Sydney
Australia. The doors close in late February 1999, so I decided to pay my
respects and dragged the children to see this underwater visual delight. A
homage to the sea creatures of the universe with no occurring theme, only
stunning images and a few humorous moments from the cheeky Besson. Serra's
music works a treat here. Maybe twenty minutes too long.
2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :- film documentary on the living sea, 17 December 1998
Author:
wawa-3 from Antwerp, Belgium
The director just filmed the living sea without documentary explanation. No
words are speaking in the film. The only thing are beautiful images and
music.
Not so much you would think but the way it is done is simply beautiful. Luc
Besson put the right music with right image. It is very hard to write about
it, you just have to see it. You get out of the film completely
relax...
3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :- Hydrolicious, 9 January 2005
Author:
T.S. Hunter from Cedarpines Park, CA, USA
I just would like to say that this film is quite unique. It is really
not a Documentary, per se; it is more like a Special Interest Music
Video. To try and explain it to someone who has never seen it, I would
say it is like a cross between Jacques Cousteau, Fantasia, & an Enigma
CD. Keep in mind there is no dialog other than the introduction at the
beginning of the film, so it doesn't matter what language you speak to
enjoy this. Frankly, the footage speaks for itself. If you want someone
telling you what you see with your own eyes, look elsewhere. But if you
want something so lulling it could very easily put you in a state of
comatose, this is it. Truly, I fell asleep for at least the first 5
times I saw it. This is not a bad thing, I realized, because it helps
you unwind if you had an extremely harsh day. More art than movie, this
is a film you might see playing at an exhibit in an art museum. But
give it a chance. It has some of the most utterly fascinating
underwater wildlife footage and cinematography, with an ambient
soundtrack throughout that I think fits it perfectly. It is very
possible that you will see things here that you will not see elsewhere.
The clarity defies underwater footage, at least that I have seen. I
really don't know how they got some of the shots they did. And there
are underwater animals that you may have never seen before, as well as
tons of fish. If aquatic nature were to produce a music video, it would
look like this. So in short, this is a keeper, and one I'm sure to have
in my collection. Hopefully you will give it a chance and not write it
off because it isn't the Disney film of the same name. 10/10
1 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :- No match for Attenborough, 10 January 1999
Author:
Spod-3 from Melbourne, Australia
Watching this on a big screen one realizes how much effort must go into the
"Life on Earth" and subsequent TV documentaries. This looks really mundane
and unimpressive, even with the benefits of the cinematic experience. Maybe
my expectations were too high, but if it had run another 30 min. I would
have been asleep before the credits.
There is about 15 min. of impressive footage of sharks and dugongs, but most
of the rest is really repetitive and no better than a hundred other
underwater wildlife documentaries.
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13 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-

It ain't a movie - it's another world, 23 December 2000
Author: Loff24 from Portugal
I was a fan of Luc Besson since 1997, when I saw "Léon". And since I saw that movie, I scoured every video store looking for his films. Some were easy to find (The Fifth Element and Nikita were broadcasted), some weren't ("Subway" and "The Big Blue" had to be imported). Atlantis was the kind of movie I never expected to get my hands on. So you can see what I looked like when a German site had the video on stock. I waited two long months, expecting to see that movie I always wanted to see. When the movie finally arrived, I turned off all the lights, covered the led of the video, covered the little light of the TV and sat in my room with the stereo real loud. And the movie was a child-like dream. I heard many people saying it was a failure, I heard many people saying it was boring... It's all lies. I can't describe the movie by writing what I thought of it. It's difficult to talk about a movie which doesn't talk to the ears but directly to the heart. Here we have the impression that there is another planet... down there. Like in the snake scene. She moves like the snakes do, but the water is so clear that it seems like she and the others around her are floating in a aetherium. And the impression I got during the movie was that sometimes we just have to open ourselves to the sheer experiences of life and let go. This movie plays in our minds like a beautiful dream, and there are few movies that can do it. The love of the director by the ocean has never been so clear. And by making this movie, he somewhat passes on his message and makes us love the ocean also. Full praise to this work of art! Besson never stopped amazing...
9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-

Fabulous underwater photography and musical score, 12 July 2003
Author: Trukdiver (strong@guam.net) from Guam Island, USA
I picked up this DVD, never having heard of it before. In my 34 years of diving I don't remember a more beautiful underwater film. There is no bothersome narration to get in the way (some appears just in the opening). The manta ray scene set to Maria Callas opera is so powerful that applause appears at the end of it! The Atlantic spotted dolphins are in a ballet that seems perfectly choreographed. I will treasure this DVD and show it to all my dinner guests -- all of whom are divers!
9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Beautiful!, 29 April 2003
Author: yossarian100 from usa
Atlantis is more visual art than nature film and a 'must see' for any Luc Besson fan. The film captures the feel of what it's actually like to swim underwater better than any film I've ever seen, perfectly illustrating the form and texture of sea water. Beautiful. Highly recommended for anyone interested in visual arts or diving.
5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
great photography - great panning, 8 March 1999
Author: Richard Bean (rwb@maths.uq.edu.au) from Brisbane, Queensland
The photography was spectacular. This is much better seen on a large screen. The mating scenes between seals reminded me of humans, and dugongs eating a cabbage like substance was remarkably human-like too. A turtle swimming underwater looks like a bird flying through air, and the camera angles circling animals are great. Shark frenzies and teeth are shown close up. Unlike the other viewers, I thought perhaps this was not long enough, though near the beginning I had several concentration lapses (even the second time I watched it). The camera technique is better than David Attenborough's shows, and the last two scenes are some of the best in the film. Some scenes are slow-motion (the waves) and some are sped up (the seal family) but it seems to suit the atmosphere and it's hard to tell.
The panning over coral (the Great Barrier Reef) really reminds me of Koyaanisqatsi, and overall it's great and better than Microcosmos. A 10 just for photography.
5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
My all time favorite film!, 3 September 2001
Author: grapevine09 (grapevine09@hotmail.com) from USA
The strange thing about this movie is that there is almost no talking. I guess that is why it is so great! Everything you look for in a great movie is there: Love, hate, adventure, great music and beautiful camera work. It takes you to a whole new world. If you love the underwater world or not, this movie will make you want to go there and stay there forever! If you haven't seen it yet and you get the chance to (and believe me it doesn't come along that often), then take it!
4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-

Long live the VALHALLA!, 28 January 1999
Author: mifunesamurai from Australia
In the mid-1980's I spent my youth at the Palace of dreams, Valhalla. A classic art deco independent cinema in the suburb of Glebe, Sydney Australia. The doors close in late February 1999, so I decided to pay my respects and dragged the children to see this underwater visual delight. A homage to the sea creatures of the universe with no occurring theme, only stunning images and a few humorous moments from the cheeky Besson. Serra's music works a treat here. Maybe twenty minutes too long.
2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-

film documentary on the living sea, 17 December 1998
Author: wawa-3 from Antwerp, Belgium
The director just filmed the living sea without documentary explanation. No words are speaking in the film. The only thing are beautiful images and music. Not so much you would think but the way it is done is simply beautiful. Luc Besson put the right music with right image. It is very hard to write about it, you just have to see it. You get out of the film completely relax...
3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-

Hydrolicious, 9 January 2005
Author: T.S. Hunter from Cedarpines Park, CA, USA
I just would like to say that this film is quite unique. It is really not a Documentary, per se; it is more like a Special Interest Music Video. To try and explain it to someone who has never seen it, I would say it is like a cross between Jacques Cousteau, Fantasia, & an Enigma CD. Keep in mind there is no dialog other than the introduction at the beginning of the film, so it doesn't matter what language you speak to enjoy this. Frankly, the footage speaks for itself. If you want someone telling you what you see with your own eyes, look elsewhere. But if you want something so lulling it could very easily put you in a state of comatose, this is it. Truly, I fell asleep for at least the first 5 times I saw it. This is not a bad thing, I realized, because it helps you unwind if you had an extremely harsh day. More art than movie, this is a film you might see playing at an exhibit in an art museum. But give it a chance. It has some of the most utterly fascinating underwater wildlife footage and cinematography, with an ambient soundtrack throughout that I think fits it perfectly. It is very possible that you will see things here that you will not see elsewhere. The clarity defies underwater footage, at least that I have seen. I really don't know how they got some of the shots they did. And there are underwater animals that you may have never seen before, as well as tons of fish. If aquatic nature were to produce a music video, it would look like this. So in short, this is a keeper, and one I'm sure to have in my collection. Hopefully you will give it a chance and not write it off because it isn't the Disney film of the same name. 10/10
1 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-

No match for Attenborough, 10 January 1999
Author: Spod-3 from Melbourne, Australia
Watching this on a big screen one realizes how much effort must go into the "Life on Earth" and subsequent TV documentaries. This looks really mundane and unimpressive, even with the benefits of the cinematic experience. Maybe my expectations were too high, but if it had run another 30 min. I would have been asleep before the credits. There is about 15 min. of impressive footage of sharks and dugongs, but most of the rest is really repetitive and no better than a hundred other underwater wildlife documentaries.
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