A big, unblinking eye underwater

Coral Reef Adventure

MacGillivray Freeman Films

California Science Center

Imax Theater

*

Imax cameras have been up Everest and, now, submerged 350 feet under the sea. Underwater filmmakers Howard and Michele Hall and their crew take us up close with coral reefs in the South Pacific. This was no mere dip in the pool: The filming was interrupted by Howard’s bout with the bends and equipment cracking under deep-sea pressure.

The expedition explores reefs from Australia to Fiji and Tahiti, showing coral forests teeming with colorful creatures but also some that are ghostly bleached skeletons unable to support any sea life. The world’s coral reefs stagger under the triple threat of overfishing, sun-robbing siltation and rising ocean temperatures. This we glean amid head-spinning Imax footage -- on swoops over the reefs by ultralight plane and dives into underwater canyons. It’s not every day you can get a flush of vertigo from being immersed in a school of, say, 300 gray reef sharks.

In a nod to the cartoonish among us, the corals and fish are amplified with sound effects. Unfortunately, only hints of native music back the film; Crosby, Stills and Nash’s “Teach Your Children” tops off this jaunt to the islands.

*

Emmett Berg