Featuring Kelly Slater and Raimana Van Bastolaer. Rated G. Opens Saturday, March 27, at the Science World Omnimax Theatre.

The scale, expense, and tough logistics that go into IMAX movies usually mean that visceral effects, along with some social benefits—like saving the planet and all that—compensate for a lack of plot, development, or convincing line readings.

The visceral part is on tap in The Ultimate Wave Tahiti (shown elsewhere in 3-D). How could it not be, with fisheyed shots of surfer Kelly Slater shooting down six-metre waves before breakfast?

But Slater, who has won more competitions than any other surfer alive, doesn’t do much else to connect with the viewer, and the movie offers few other reasons for being, so it quickly loses focus. The tale improves when it relies on the warm personality of Raimana Van Bastolaer, the big kahuna of Tahitian surfers and a calming, yet challenging, presence to Slater and the movie. He provides some voice-overs relating to his island’s history, although attempts to translate his words into imagery through animated spirits and touristy set pieces just look lame and, worse, simply underline what we’re being told.

On the other hand, the mile-high computer graphics that go with writer Alexander Low’s well-considered science talk is really helpful when it comes to understanding the tricky business of tides and wave forms. Too bad brother Stephen Low, who directed several of the earliest and best-known IMAX films, lets the storytelling go haywire. Along with gigantic Suzuki logos (gee, ya think they’re one of the sponsors?) and seemingly unrelated aquatic-life footage, the movie offers vast expanses of bronzed, youthful skin. It should have been called Attack of the 50-Foot Hula Dancer.