Movie: Turtle Odyssey 3D

Turtle Odyssey 3D perfectly illustrates why the IMAX format is ideal for wildlife documentaries.

The underwater shots are at times breathtaking as we follow Bunji, a green sea turtle, from birth to ‘motherhood’.

Bunji’s adventures start with her birth on a Great Barrier Reef beach. We see her precarious run from the sand to the ocean, avoiding the hungry seagulls and crabs in search of a feed. We then follow her (or given the documentary time span and dangers turtles face, possibly a relative!) as she grows into adulthood and later returns to the beach where she was born, to lay her eggs.

During this time she travels thousands of kilometres in the open ocean and meets all kinds of creatures, ranging from whales, great white sharks and dugongs to clown fish and tiny sea horses.

Thanks to narration by Australian actor Russell Crowe, we learn more about these creatures and the many challenges they faces in surviving ocean life. Together with natural predators, humans – or more specifically the rubbish we dump in the ocean – are now one of the sea turtles’ greatest dangers.

Crowe’s commentary also incorporates the latest scientific discoveries about these most remarkable creatures. We learn, for example, that turtles can sense and use the earth’s invisible magnetic fields to navigate back to the beaches they were born on.

While the commentary is educational, it’s the wildlife images that best tell Bunji’s story as she comes across an array of sea creatures, which are expertly and spectacularly brought to life on the IMAX screen. Needless to say the life of a sea turtle is fraught with danger!

Turtle Odyssey 3D is showing exclusively at IMAX Melbourne. Visit IMAX Melbourne  for more information and tickets.

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