Creatures Fantastic: Creatures of the Deep

In our review of Creatures Fantastic: The Underworld (VL-9/98), I noted that the exceptional special effects from reigning visuals arts masters Dorling Kindersley ultimately overcame the "occasionally scattershot approach to the subject matter." In Creatures of the Deep, one of four new episodes in the Creatures Fantastic series, the arbitrary hopping from subject to subject coupled with the banal script ("the sea reveals to us an image of our true selves") are too much of a detraction for the admittedly fine visuals to best. Viewers will learn the story of Noah and a similar myth from India (but, maddeningly, not which came first), the tale of Atlantis, how Odysseus stopped his ears against the Sirens' song (but not who he was), and that one of the attractions of mermaids is "wild hair [which] is unashamedly sexual." Interestingly, the visual for this assertion is a shot of Elsa Lanchester in Bride of Frankestein (I would submit that what floats Frank's boat is not necessarily a representative example of male sexual yearning). Perhaps the other new titles--The Apocalyse, Tricky Tricksters and Spirits of the Forest--are better, but Creatures of the Deep is a real disappointment. (R. Pitman)