....of mermaid scat. Well, there was 2 hours of my life wasted. A seemingly interesting albeit fantastic concept. Presented by Animal Planet as a documentary but is anything but.
There are clues to the unwary along the way that this is faked: early on we supposedly view amateur cellphone video taken by two boys on the beach. However, the "cellphone" lens snap zooms in as they discover the twitching hand of the yet undiscovered species on the beach. I don't know of any cellphone that has a manual zoom lens capable of this feat. The "secret" video at a Navy facility is equally phony. The static that is digitally added to make us think this is amateur video betrays the fact that it is staged.
The main actor does a good job and is believable although I figured him to be a hoaxer early on. The other "interviews" are obviously actors overly emoting and some with affected accents. Even the supposed TV interview of a German fisherman is poorly acted and an obvious sham.
For a network that 'makes its bones' with documentaries, Animal Planet should be ashamed of itself for sullying its reputation with this sham.
There are clues to the unwary along the way that this is faked: early on we supposedly view amateur cellphone video taken by two boys on the beach. However, the "cellphone" lens snap zooms in as they discover the twitching hand of the yet undiscovered species on the beach. I don't know of any cellphone that has a manual zoom lens capable of this feat. The "secret" video at a Navy facility is equally phony. The static that is digitally added to make us think this is amateur video betrays the fact that it is staged.
The main actor does a good job and is believable although I figured him to be a hoaxer early on. The other "interviews" are obviously actors overly emoting and some with affected accents. Even the supposed TV interview of a German fisherman is poorly acted and an obvious sham.
For a network that 'makes its bones' with documentaries, Animal Planet should be ashamed of itself for sullying its reputation with this sham.