Date: Fri 25-Jun-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

IMAX-Sharks-Maritime-Aquarium

Full Text:

ENJOY LOWER COVER and LIBRARY

SWIM WITH THE HAMMER HEADS THIS SUMMER, THANKS TO IMAX MAGIC w/ 2 cuts

NORWALK - Plunge into a fantastic undersea adventure filled with gangs of

prowling sharks, glistening schools of fish and an amazing abundance of other

marine animals in Island of the Sharks , a new IMAX movie that opened this

month at The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk.

The new film is a production of NOVA/WGBH Boston. It is playing daily through

October 21 in the state's only IMAX theatre, with a screen that is eight

stories wide and six stories high.

The Aquarium is at 10 North Water Street, in the SoNo section of Norwalk.

Show times are 11 am, noon, 1 and 3 pm daily. An extra shows is available on

Saturdays and Sundays through June, and then at 4 pm daily July 1 through

Labor Day.

Island of the Sharks is also available to be seen as a specially-priced IMAX

double feature with Mission to MIR on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at

7.

Island of the Sharks transports audiences to Cocos Island, 300 miles off Costa

Rica's Pacific coast. The exotic locale was the inspiration for Robert Louis

Stevenson's Treasure Island and Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park .

Cold dwellings around the remote volcanic island encourage the growth of

plankton, the foundation of the marine food chain. Tropical reef fish, rays,

marlin, moray eels, dolphins, sea lions, tuna and, of course, hundreds of

sharks are drawn to the food web.

Acclaimed underwater filmmakers Howard and Michele Hall reveal all the

intricacies of like in the "way station for hungry travelers." Audiences watch

transfixed as huge schools of hammerheads pass overhead and white tip sharks

tenaciously flush out fish hiding in rocky reefs below.

In perhaps the most amazing sequence, sea lions and marlin circle a school of

sardines into a smaller and smaller swirling mass that scientists call a "bait

ball."

The film is not all about eating, though. There are grooming concerns: Little

barberfish clean parasites off their larger neighbors.

Housing is also an issue. A hermit crab politely knocks first before taking

over a new shell. And the love bug bites: A male jawfish comes calling, right

in the path of a hungry mantis shrimp.

Through time-lapse photography, Island of the Sharks also reveals a cluster of

cushion sea stars pirouetting across the sea floor, and a green sea turtle

comically battles a swaying current to dine on a stray tree branch.

The film is narrated by the Academy Award-winning actress Linda Hunt.

Rounding out The Maritime Aquarium's summer IMAX lineup is T-Rex: Back to the

Cretaceous , at 2 pm daily, and Everest , at 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday, July

1 through Labor Day.

Tickets to any one IMAX movie are $6.75 for adults, $5.75 for seniors (age 62

and above), and $5 for children ages 2-12. Discounted combination tickets to

include Aquarium admission are available (IMAX tickets are good for the movie

only, and do not include admission to the Aquarium).

Tickets to the IMAX double feature on weekend evenings are $10 for adults, $9

for seniors, and $8 for ages 2-12. For more information about The Maritime

Aquarium's IMAX movies, exhibits or programs, call 852-0700.