January 27, 2005 - James Cameron continues to satisfy his lust for scientific discovery and cutting edge technological appropriation with his latest offering, a film which sees him again delving under the waves to explore the mysteries of the deep blue sea. This time, however, instead of uncovering the lost secrets of the sunken ship that made him a worldwide cinematic legend, Cameron enlisted a team of young, eager scientists to explore the mineral rich volcanic expanses of the Mid-Ocean Ridge.

As with his previous documentary-styled outing, Ghosts of the Abyss, Cameron's latest endeavor mixes the educational elements of the more traditional documentary style with a plethora of eye-popping effects – in this case stereo imaging (a.k.a. 3-D for the old school cinephiles), a process generally associated with blockbuster entertainment and low-budget sci-fi epics. The end result is more or less a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of education and entertainment (i.e. edutainment), albeit skewed a little more toward the latter than the former. In fact that's one of the major hurdles of the film: it's not technically a documentary, at least not in the traditional sense, and it's not technically a feature film, instead it's a rather strange permutation residing somewhere in the slipstream in between the two.

Clocking in at a mere 47 minutes, Aliens of the Deep works more like a primer to undersea exploration and aquatic-based volcanic scientific research rather than a full-fledged film. Not surprisingly, Disney and the film's production company Walden Media, have been targeting the film toward elementary school kids and for this purpose it is an excellent introduction to the wonders of the deep, a sugar coated nugget of scientific nutrition that will go down easy with the kids (and perhaps even inspire some of them to pursue the scientific arts) as well as keep the adults fixated on the screen.

Much of the allure of the film comes from Cameron's easygoing, rather unscientific approach to the project. He introduces the viewer to a team of youthful, energetic scientists and then more or less lets the subject of the film – the volcanic expanses of the ocean floor – do the rest. Let's face it, when you've got giant albino squid, large lava spewing underwater chimneys, and vast hordes of ravenous shrimp filling the screen you really don't need any top name actors or well-known, charismatic scientists to fill the space. The subject matter here is the star, Cameron and crew are merely along for the ride allowing the audience to ride shotgun. Sure, the filmmakers got to drive (and dive), but thanks to the wonders of 3-D, the audience is given a fairly immersive experience, as well.

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