Cuttlefish, garden eels and sea lions – oh my!

Plunging to the depths of isolated and exotic underwater locales in Australia and New Guinea, Under the Sea 3D brings you face-to-snout with playful sea lions, cunning cuttlefish and bloated potato cods in an informative and entertaining manner ideal for students.

When compared to glossy textbooks or even the most impassioned teacher, nothing helps the academic medicine go down quite like big-screen visuals.

Narrated by a soothing-voiced, and refreshingly sedate, Jim Carrey, UTS 3D makes the most of the multi-dimensional technology, immersing the viewers in a little-seen playground under the water’s surface.

For that right-in the-thick-of-things feeling, UTS 3D can’t be beat. In fact, don’t be surprised if you spot audience members blindly batting away the myriad tiny mysid shrimp that seem to be floating directly overhead. Projected on the larger-than-life IMAX screen, the sensation is undeniably one of being there, as director Howard Hall – who previously helmed Deep Sea, Island of the Sharks and Into the Blue – captures the world of the deep blue sea in stunning detail.

Culling footage from five month-long expeditions, Hall and his crew, which includes his wife and producer Michele and her Toronto IMAX team, boarded four different ships that were specially modified to handle the 1,200-pound IMAX camera and prepared to share with the world their compelling findings.

Hall brings on the cute with shots of lackadaisical sea lions frolicking underwater, playfully engaging with the camera, and then goes for the jugular with images of a roaming Great White Shark. Garden eels poke their worm-like bodies from a sandy surface and appear to be performing group choreography in a jaunty, memorable scene set to appropriately upbeat music. Along with an original score, composed by Micky Erbe and Maribeth Solomon, the inventive sound effects do much to complement the hyper-real images.

But it’s not all vacantly lovely clips of luscious coral reefs and Green Sea turtles – this film is interested in what we as humans are doing above the surface as well. Carrey tells of rising temperatures and an excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that’s lead to dwindling populations of many sea creatures and certain extinction for others. Told in a slyly pedagogic style, the film’s message becomes especially resonant when the audience is shown a bleached out coral reef – a direct result of man’s carelessness.

At 40 minutes, this striking doc boasts a succinct running time that will keep even the most antsy audience member’s attention while providing a welcome perspective on responsible environmental decisions. By combining fascinating visuals of exotic and rare sea creatures with a message about how we all have to learn to live together, UTS 3D manages to be both entertaining and educational, without losing any of its magic.

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Under the Sea 3D opens in select Cineplex IMAX theatres February 13.