Search - Swimming With Dolphins: Healers of the Sea on DVD

Very misleading title

Jon Norris | Oregon, USA | 11/05/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

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The title is extremely misleading, there is almost no reference to, or showing of, swimming with dolphins on this DVD. There is one very brief segment of a disabled child swimming with a dolphin that doesn't even last a few minutes. It seems to be almost an afterthought.

The majority of the DVD is made up of what seems to be an eco-tourist kind of promotional piece for the Malibu area of Southern California, recut and retitled. Otters and seals are mentioned and shown as much as dolphins and whales. (Although, since otters and seals do swim in the same ocean as dolphins, I suppose a lawyer could make a case for the title not being too misleading..................yeah, right.)

That said, there are some redeeming qualities to the DVD (although not enough that I would ever recommend buying it). The interview with cetacean researcher David Warner is by far the most relevant and interesting part of the program, even if it is very poorly shot. The "raw footage" extra feature of this interview in its entirety is far more interesting than most of the rest of the main DVD. Poor exposure and sound problems hamper this part, but the information about dolphin cognition is outstanding. They should have just done more interviewing with Warner, then used stock footage of dolphins and whales to go over it. That would have been a far better piece than this (and is how some segments actually were done).

The other redeeming parts of the DVD are the all too brief segments about whales, complete with some nice shots of blue whales from high above, with interesting facts about the sheer power of their sonic capability: 180 decibels is very potent sound pressure in air - under water it could kill or communicate around the entire globe!.

All in all a sad production with a drastically misleading title. I am a big fan of Mariette Hartley and like Brion James, and I would be disappointed if they had much to do with the final form of this fairly amateurish product. It really does seem like someone recut footage they had from another project and tried to kludge together something with a fashionable title. Rent it to see the good parts, but I warn you to be prepared to be disappointed in the overall program. I almost bought it sight unseen, am and VERY glad I rented it first.

I recommend instead the Grant Goodeve DVD - "Dolphins - Tribes of the Sea," which is the best, and the Imax conversion, "Dolphins," the second best DVD about dolphins I have found to date. I think you will be far more pleased and get better footage of, and information about, dolphins; those delightful, intelligent critters, who are probably a lot smarter than us humans. (Except for their one major judgment flaw of liking humans, that is.)



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Not what it says it is

Jere F. Welch | new york | 03/19/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The cover data was not really gone into in depth. it was more of a story about other marine mammals with several interspersed info bits about the dolphin healing abilities/research. in the bonus section there was about 30 minutes of info that repeated the sound bites with stops for passing horses. I was really disappointed with it as the info was already in text form on the net. no little children nor disabled adults were swmming with the dolphins and no parents were asked about the effects on their children of swimming with the dolphins. save your money! Jere"

Informative but not very entertaining

Matthew R. Connors | usa | 01/10/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD was informative but it had nothing to really do with Swimming with dolphins. It did talk alittle about swimming with dolphins but failed to really grasp the title of swimming with dolphins. I also really expected this DVD to be more entertaining and exciting. If you have a Psychology background you will appreciate parts of this DVD."

Don't push the "order" button just yet!

David Campbell | Hershey, PA | 08/05/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD is an unfocused mess that seems to be a loose compilation of "save the Californian coast," "come take our whale watching boat ride," and impromptu, sloppy stream-of consciousness pseudoscience from one "Dr. David Warner." This was soooo bad that I really do want about an hour of my life back. The James and Hartley narration had nothing to do with dolphins, and the teaser promo lines lead to nothing of substance at all. Thank goodness this is actually only a one-disc experience. The writers, editors, videographers and soundtrack guys should be encouraged to find other work -- this was simply terrible... all of it. Save yourselves (and your 20 dollars)."