Search - Great White Odyssey on DVD

So much from so little...

Charles G. Johnson | San Francisco, CA | 11/14/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is a Disney-like 'documentary' from the NG Channel, in which a cute, nubile female shark named 'Nicole' exhibits rogue behavior in the seas of South Africa, and is tagged by her jealous, scientific admirer who wants to know why she leaves him for 6 months a year.

I must admit, I was 'hooked' when I saw the footage that suggests that Nicole was letting herself be 'petted' by her hunky scientist, maybe a trick of the cameras. But, as the video progressed, it was clear that the cameramen had only filmed Nicole in the water before and during her tagging (as well as a bit upon her return), and, through the editing process, sought to create the impression that they followed her on her migratory journey. What ensues is an embarrassing assortment of CGI recreations of bioluminescent creatures and stock footage of humpback whales, all designed to give color to Nicole's journey to the Australian continent. The cameras didn't follow her, and they weren't there when she arrived. (No shot of her shows the tag after the start of the journey.) And, as also 'filmed', the tag just ejects itself from her body, the cause of which is not questioned. The scientists just seem to accept it as standard...

Drama above all! There are questions as to why she dives so deep at a certain point, and why she heads to Australia, but these go unanswered. (Sex with better-gened partners is suggested as a possible motivator for the migration.) We also get some stock footage of Nicole's stand-in eating a seal and a duck, and are shown the dangers for a top-of-the-food-chain-predator in the unprotected waters outside of South Africa, the greatest of which is the threat of becoming soup for the Asian shark fin hunters (truly the scum of the earth).

I was so relieved (really!) to know that Nicole returned to her SA waters that summer, after the Australian migration. But then the narrator, as well as Nicole's admirer proceed to tell us, matter-of-factly, that she was never spotted again afterwards. For me it was like Bambi's mother and Old Yeller and Thomasina all combined! Nicole, are you still with us?



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