Tourists looking to take home a taste of the South Pacific—or even just lazy kamaaina who don't want to drive all the way out to Laie—will enjoy the spectacle that is “;Ha: Breath of Life,”; the $3 million Polynesian Cultural Center production now available on DVD.

When it debuted last summer, “;Ha: Breath of Life”; replaced “;Horizons: Where the Sea Meets the Sky”; at the PCC's Pacific Theater after a 13-year run. The new show, with a cast of more than 100 current and past Brigham Young University-Hawaii students, took three years to develop from conception to what now appears live on stage six nights a week.

All that hard work shows in this finished product, which runs approximately 100 minutes and features bonus archival footage from 1981's “;Invitation to Paradise”; and 1985's “;This is Polynesia,”; in addition to a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process and setup behind “;Ha: Breath of Life.”;

Filmed during an actual performance, the DVD experience is what you might expect to see running concurrently on oversize video screens at the Pacific Theater. Cameras follow main character Mana's (Ricky Suaava) development from boy into man, cutting away to wide-angle shots whenever dozens of cast members stream on stage for each of the dance numbers that spotlight different regions of the Pacific.

We watch as Mana is apparently born in Tonga and celebrates his first birthday there with visiting Hawaiians before growing up in Aotearoa and Samoa. He gets married in Tahiti, then fights on behalf of his “;people”; in Fiji.

It's a whirlwind odyssey, necessary only to provide audiences with the cultural diversity expected from a PCC show. Animated segments loosely tie the singing and dancing numbers together, although about halfway through you start to get the feeling you're watching some sort of Polynesian-style remake of “;The Lion King.”;

The vague plotline of “;Ha: Breath of Life”; is underscored on the DVD by a complete lack of subtitles or translations. Sure, all the singing and dancing looks good—but where is the cultural value?

We can see and hear the music and language from a variety of Pacific island nations, but nothing is done to provide any sort of insight into the words being used. While viewers do get enough of the story from the animated segments to understand what is taking place, it would have been nice to see translations available as an option either on the DVD itself or in accompanying liner notes.

According to press materials, “;Ha: Breath of Life”; is due to be re-released on Blu-ray later this year. Hopefully the new version will also include a way for viewers to better understand the meaning behind the music and dance featured in this PCC production.