'Morning Light'

The Orlando Sentinel (MCT) - It could have been a salty "Real World," or "The Hills at Sea." But for all its pretty young faces, prettier seascapes and moments of tension, "Morning Light," a new Disney documentary about a youthful crew training and competing in a sailboat race, is sorely lacking in drama. It's still a good film that sailors will get a lot out of. But land lubbers? Not that much.

"Morning Light" is a pet project of Roy Disney, Walt's nephew. An avid sailor, he buys and equips a boat and sets up a competition, first to make the team, then to make the racing crew _ the 11 college-age men and women who will race the Morning Light from Long Beach to Diamond Head, Hawaii, in the annual Trans-Pac sailboat race, "the Indianapolis 500 of sailboat racing."

I know what you're thinking _ white Ivy Leaguers from old money, right? True, to a point. But the filmmakers and producers go to some pains to give this team a little diversity _ a son of a son of a sailor from Australia, an inner city black teen from Baltimore who isn't a strong swimmer, college sailing team kids and Merchant Marine Academy sailors all work out, train at the wenches, wrestle with sails and take turns at the wheel as they struggle to make the Morning Light team.

The coed crew keeps journals and narrate from those notebooks about the team, the sport and the way sailing makes you feel closer to the Earth by "being one with the wind."

They're not the most fascinating personalities. There's a lot of sportsmanship and little discord, even when they, one by one, vote and assemble the final racing crew. "It's like breaking up with your girlfriend," cracks the Aussie Jeremy Wilmot, a born sailor. Only it isn't. Fewer tears and no shouting. "Morning Light" was edited to get a PG rating. Surely somebody on this crew "cussed like a sailor."

The race itself is fascinating as they gamble on where the wind will be and face off with the Samba Pa ti, the boat that the film sets up as their arch rivals in mid-ocean (it almost never happens in open ocean racing) for a days-long duel. But even when they gamble wrong, there's no blame game.

Beautifully shot, informative to sailors and lubbers alike, with moments of wit _ a storm is "breaking up like an '80s hair band" _ "Morning Light" has everything but the edge it needs to play as good drama. But then if they cast this thing like "Survivor," the boat would still be out there, somewhere in the Pacific, running out of rations and learning, the hard way, what "the custom of the sea" means.

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MORNING LIGHT

3 stars (out of 5)

Cast: The crew of the racing sailboat Morning Light

Directors: Mark Monroe

Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes

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Industry rating: PG for some language.

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© 2008, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).