Who payed the critics

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

James Cameron teams up with NASA scientists to explore the Mid-Ocean Ridge, a submerged chain of mountains that band the Earth and are home to some of the planet's most unique life forms. Aliens of the Deep is another documentary that has James Cameron's signature in it and it's quite stunning to say the least. Seeing the equipment that they have build in order to go underwater but the things that they find in there but also the beauty of the sea is just amazing. Cameron is not a perfect man but he has a vision when he wants to and 'Aliens of the Deep' shows it, he wants the technology to make his movies but he also wants to build a better tomorrow on his own. (8/10)

James Cameron takes some astro-scientists to the deep ocean to examine life far from the sun. The idea is to help ponder how life at the bottom of the ocean might be like aliens in space-perhaps even on the moon Europa.I watched the extended version of this documentary on DVD and found it beautiful to look at but tedious to endure. The problem is that unlike Cameron's earlier IMAX film on the Titanic there doesn't appear to be enough material to double the length of the 48 minute IMAX release. Its a great deal of talking heads speaking (down) to the audience. I felt I was at a museum and was getting a gee whiz lecture by the staff who under estimated my ability to understand what they were saying. I doubt most six years old like being talked to the way this film talks to its audience. I lost my patience and began to scan through to the pretty pictures. To be certain the undersea vistas are spectacular and the animated bits of what aliens might look like is neat, but the narration that holds it all together is weak. I'm going to have to go back and try the short version of the film, perhaps it will play better (almost certainly it won't have the dead spots the longer version does.Worth a look for the visuals.

James Cameron does a bang up job on the cool looking IMAX-3D adventure to the depths of the sea and beyond.The futuristic aspect and effects get to be a bit much, but otherwise it is enjoyable, educational, brief, and somewhat enlightening.Effects--> the computer rendered graphics of aliens was a bad way to end the film, but that is Cameron's own belief/touch. One cannot fault him for what he truly believes in and the effects aren't bad in a cheesy way, just a different way to end an educational film (not really a spoiler since aliens are on the poster and in the preview).Brief--> All IMAX (except for feature length Hollywood) are short, with the ending it probably was short enough, but could have been longer with more oceanographic footage (an interesting note is that DVDs of IMAX movies seem to have extended versions) Which begs the question of if they are going to charge $30 or so for the DVD and you get extended footage, why spend $8-15 to see a cool documentary like flick on the IMAX 70mm screen? For the most part IMAX is the only place for 3D and thus a reason to pop down the dough. Plus a lot of Zoos and other institutions of education which show films like this tend to have giveaways of the movies official posters and such, so supporting them and possibly winning merchandise is an additional incentive for the decent to very good experience.

When it comes to action movies, James Cameron is one of my favorite directors. In particular, "The Abyss" and "Terminator 2" are two of my all-time favorite movies. Like others, I'm disappointed to see that since "Titanic" Cameron is only making documentaries and I'm looking forward to see his "Battle Angel" (currently scheduled for a 2007 release), which will be his first feature in 10(!) years.I didn't really like "Expedition: Bismarck" and "Ghosts of the Abyss", so my expectations from "Aliens of the Deep" weren't that high. Still, I got disappointed. I watched the 95-min DVD version and felt like I was watching a "behind the scenes" featurette of the real movie.The movie promises to show us "aliens" from the bottom of the sea. It surprised me that during the entire duration, you don't get to see more than 10 minutes of that - most of them are the same creatures. TV shows like the excellent "The Blue Planet (2001)" by the BBC already gave us all these creatures (and many others not shown here) in a MUCH clearer view and better photography.Instead, this movie focuses on showing all the people and equipment involved in making the dives. It was interesting in the first 10 minutes and it would have been alright if I wanted to know more about the making of the movie. But it's not interesting to see Cameron and crew for 95 minutes discussing how things should be made.Except for the few short computer animations in the movie, I got a feeling that I was watching an unedited material. Cameron puts himself and lots of people with Ph.D. in front of the camera, but he is more interested in showing us them playing, making faces, modeling to the cameras and having really shallow discussions instead of giving some in-depth analysis of the subject.Most of the underwater dialog consists of "Wow" and "That is amazing". The narration is horrible right from the beginning and the lowest point - for me - was during the explanation how these creatures were first discovered, which actually used the phrase: "These scientists went like 'Wow!'".Most of the underwater material shows the submarines and the people instead of the creatures. Is it because they didn't find what they wanted and didn't have enough material to shows us? When you finally get to see some creatures, you have absolutely no explanations about them. So many educated scientists around and you don't even get to know the names of the creatures! You just watch it like you would if you dived yourself. Cameron himself sums it pretty well in one scene, when a beautiful jelly-like creature passes and he says "I have no idea what that is". I don't blame you - you're not a scientist, but what are all the people around for?Summing it all up - this movie was a big disappointment and boring enough for me to fast-forward parts of it. If you want to see the creatures promised here, see another documentary; if you want to see a good Cameron project - go and watch any of his brilliant action movies. But save yourself from watching this.