Check out Kidzworld’s movie review of the new IMAX nature doc Humpback Whales. It’s awesome! And to think, these, smart, loving and powerful giants were almost extinct!
By: Lynn Barker
Humpback whales are so huge you can’t believe they are real but the species boasts loving moms, rebellious babies, lots of species cooperation and some romantic courting. These lovable leviathans also need help from Man when caught in fishing gear that can cause injury and death.
Humpback whale mom and calf
Story Goes
While travelling with the filmmakers to Tonga, Hawaii and Alaska, we meet the giants of the deep. The film, shot in IMAX, and narrated by an enthusiastic Ewan McGregor, gives us some history of whaling, an often cruel and unnecessary practice that almost drove these whales to extinction. We check out whale behavior including cool underwater shots of mom and baby whales, some whale courting rituals and a cool “bubble net fishing” routine in which a group of whales surround a school of fish then blows bubbles underneath them to herd them to the other whales where they become dinner!
The filmmakers at work
We see the sometimes sad but valiant efforts of whale rescue teams in Hawaii chasing and trying to cut huge fishing nets and buoys off of entangled and suffering whales. Do they know we are trying to help them? Some of the rescuers have been killed or harmed in their efforts but the success of seeing an entrapped whale swim again to freedom is worth it.
Humpback whales bubble-netting for food
We learn that it was the complicated whale songs that woke much of Mankind up in the 1970’s to the fact that these great creatures are smart and very communicative with hundreds of varying songs that sound very haunting to the human ear. A whale hunting ban in 1966 has helped greatly but there are still countries that okay whaling.
Mom and baby whale flap their tails
The facts: Adult humpbacks weigh forty tons or more with wing spans greater than that of a Learjet, they can dive as deep as 1,000 feet and swim thousands of miles all over the globe to mate and raise their young.
A huge whale breaching
Wrapping Up
At the end of the film stick in your seat for what you can do to help these wonderful whales. If, after seeing the movie, you might want to be a Marine Biologist, oceanographer or whale rescue person when you grow up, you would make the filmmakers proud! Although we had to watch an early non-3D and small screen version of the film in order to review, we recommend that you see Humpback Whales on a big IMAX screen. The giant whales are even more impressive that way.
A humpback whale close-up
We admire the filmmakers, who have made other great nature films, for finally getting up close and personal with these amazing giants and bringing the results to the big screen. Take your parents and your best buds and spend a short time (the movie is only about 40 minutes long) checking out one of the biggest creatures on earth! We go 5 stars.
Whales singing
Humpback Whales is already open in select markets and is expanding through the spring and summer
Humpback Whales Movie Rating:
Humpback Whales Movie Poster
Humpback Whales Trailer
