Directors: James Brickwell & Richard Fitzpatrick
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: April 9, 2013
Running Time: 185 minutes
Film: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: N/A
With Earth Day right around the corner, this is the time of the year when I can’t get enough nature documentaries. BBC Earth always puts out the best of the bunch. “Great Barrier Reef” is no different. Also who doesn’t love exploring the ocean. This is something that I have always been fascinated with this topic. What I also love about this film is the length of it. I say when it comes to nature documentaries the longer the better. This one runs over three hours, which is amazing!! The longer the better! Looking for a way to celebrate and support Earth Day? Get ready to into Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and look no further?
Official Premise: Stretching a full 2000 kilometers in length and made up of 3000 individual reef systems and hundreds of islands, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is breathtakingly beautiful. Selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981, it is one of the wonders of the natural world. These programs offer a definitive guide to the secrets of the reef — how it was created, how it works, the intricate relationships between its inhabitants and how climate change and other factors might shape its future. Using the latest specialist filming and visual techniques, the series captures the magic of the reef as it has never been seen before.
BBC Home Entertainment delivers a very impressive Blu-ray here but I am surprised that it is Blu-ray only, unlike the other recent release “One Life”. I would have like this to come in a combo pack with a DVD and Ultraviolet digital copy as well. The 1080p/16:9 transfer looks stunning, like I knew it would. You literally are transported into the reef and get to experience this wonders first hand. The audio track, DTS HD Stereo, is good but not overly impressive. It doesn’t disappoint either, so don’t worry. Also unlike “One Life”, this release does not come with any special features. But don’t forget it is also double the length of “One Life”, so you have to weight that factor as well. I would have loved to see a commentary track or some great behind-the-scenes though to be honest.