Customer Reviews

Africa: The Serengeti (IMAX) [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This documentary of the vast Serengeti which spans from Tanzania to Kenya is a visual feast, and follows the incredible migration of the million wildebeest and several thousand zebra that journey from the dust of the southern drought to the vegetation in the northern regions. Along the way they pass by many predators, with some of the herd falling prey to them. We also see many diverse species of the area, among them a baboon community, the majestic beauty of a herd of elephants, and many scenes of maternal love that are endearing, even with the ungainly and massive black rhino.

We see a hungry cheetah dash after a gazelle, the lions at play and as rulers of the plains, visit with the handsome Masai tribe, and view the incredible vistas from a hot air balloon. The most memorable scene in the film is on the wildebeest's return to the south, where they must get across a river flooded by the rain. The crocodiles lie in wait for this event, and many from the herd also perish from exhaustion. The size and scope of this river crossing makes it an image one will never forget. The cinematography by Andrew Kitzanuk is spectacular, and makes this one of the best documentaries I have seen for sheer viewing spectacle on the subject of African wildlife.

Written, directed and produced by George Cassey, the emphasis is on the poetry of the land, rather than a long list of facts and figures. Narrated by James Earl Jones, his sonorous voice is always easy on the ears, as he says things like "Life streams across a land suspended in time." Also nice to listen to is the lovely score by Hans Zimmer and George Cadebe, which includes some haunting vocals.
Recommended viewing for any animal and nature enthusiast, the total running time is 39 minutes.

I recently travelled to Africa and bought this video prior to leaving. Not only is the video completly accurate in its portrayal of the magical Serengeti, but the cinematography is excellent. In addition, children just LOVE it! My 3 year old neice couldn't stop watching it. Disney is nothing compared to this video! I recommend it highly!!

My 3-year-old enjoys this almost as much as I do. As someone who has always dreamed of going on safari one day, my reverence for the wildlife of Africa has been taken to new heights with this film. Yes, it's only 40 minutes or so but it's a perfect example of Quality over quantity. The film is exquisite from beginning to end and the music, combined with James Earl Jones' perfect voice, makes for a spine-tingling journey. I've owned the film for just under 2 weeks and have watched it at least 5 times. It is stunning! The migration of the animals is an amazing story and I was particularly moved by the final "scene". Again, the music and narration tie the beautiful photography together wonderfully. I am so happy to have found it and am buying several copies for friends and my parents...

How could you go wrong with James Earl Jones doing the narration? I have the standard version of this disc. It was one of the earliest to transfer to dvd. It came in a cd size case (eventually the size of the case was enlarged to prevent confusion with cds). Having both versions made it possible to do a comparison. What a difference the high definition (Blue Ray) version makes. It's like night and day. The HD version is much sharper, clearer and colorful, just what you would expect from the new HD format. I wanted to toss the sd version in the trash but I'll keep it to show folks the difference between HD and SD movies.

The sd version had so much LFE (bass) that I had to turn the sub down quite a bit. In fact, it has too much LFE. The Blue Ray disc has a much appreciated toned down version. As far as the movie goes, it does an excellent job of showing the great migration of animals in Africa. I am a big fan of "nature documentaries." and this is one of the best. It is not too long or too short but when I get into a good documentary such as this, I always wish it wouldn't end.

I saw this movie just after returning from the Serengeti, and I sat there for the entire show without stirring. I had tears at scenes, and utter amazement at others. Brilliant movie, spectacular scenery - exactly what I saw when I was there, and very moving. I loved it and recommend it to anyone who is interested.

This movie is ok for a documentary. It is meant to show life on the serenghiti and has James Earl Jones narrating. However, this movie showcases, primarily, the great, annual Wildebeast migratation. I know how important this migration is to all life on the African plains, but come on! It spends only about 5 minutes, randomly, on other animals. What about the display of male African elephants during breeding season? Or Jaguars carting food in trees to hide from other predators? How about the structured but seemingly chaotic feeding of Crocs? Nope, wildebeast dominate this movie. If you want a movie on migration, this is it. If you want a movie that showcases a variety of animals and behavior, look somewhere else.

This is one of the DVDs in my collection that gets played over and over again. It is such a wonderful film. If you have a large screen television or better yet, a front projector, this is a must have. It is so beautiful. The narration, the cinematography, the music, the story, the nature are wonderful.

I enjoyed this DVD immensly for several months before a friend got back from a photo safari there. When I saw his pictures, I knew he too would love the great photography, the crystal clear sound and comprehensive content of this DVD, so I gave him my copy during a visit.

I ordered a replacement for myself, only to find that it is out of print. This is a tragedy. This disk is far superior in all respects to the several othe Imax DVDs I own.

I hope that they get it back in print soon.

If you have seen any of the many National Geographic titles on African
wildlife, you may find that IMax's Serengeti leaves a lot to be desired in
terms of story telling, focus on wildlife and scientific knowledge. IMax
movies are shot on larger than normal film to achieve very high resolution
and smoother color transitions which will only be noticable when projected
on giant movie screens. When the film is transferred to DVD and viewed
on your much more inferior and small TV (as compared to projected film),
all of the IMax advantage is totally lost. This goes for all IMax titles.
If you only want to see random scenes from animal life in the Serengeti,
you might like it. Otherwise, first consider the many National Geographic
titles about African wildlife (even on VHS) some of which have won awards.

If you own BBC Planet Earth in Blu-Ray and purchase this, YOU WILL BE VERY SORRY. First the quality is not good when you compare it to Planet Earth. Yes, it's better than DVD but the shooting, dynamic range, and image quality is just bad (not to mention the poor transfer/encoding). This would have been amazing 10 years ago but not by Blu-Ray standards today. You even see dust particles show up in some frames and some are huge. There is no reason for this at all in this day and age. I have no idea why people are rating this so high.

The second biggest problem that I have is the narration and quality of the content. It's childish, boring and almost pointless. "Look at the pretty lions. Now look at this animal, it lives here too.". Please. Again, if you have seen the BBC's documentaries, then this is just below average. Not horrible or pure garbage but simply worth $4.99 in my books. And no, I am not from the UK.

One last thing. Blu-ray has three codecs people can use. One thing that baffles me with this video is why on Earth they used MPEG2 (older, slower) instead of VC1 or AVC and why didn't they do some kind of re-processing to adjust the colors and provide more dynamic range in many scenes??? Yes, the MPEG2 is at 1080p but why?? In some scenes you can see the good old "I don't have enough colors to display this scene Moire pattern" you get with several DVD movies. I have a Pioneer Elite and this thing looked bad. And no, I am not an audiophile or video enthusiast. I just got very mad when I saw this. I was shocked given the price, ratings and the fact that this is a Blu-Ray disc. It took me off guard completely. There are many other videos from this company that are just as bad. The re-production is horrible. At least if that had been good then I could have gotten a bit of eye candy. Nothing.

If you do not believe me, buy it and watch Planet Earth or Galapagos right after in Blu-Ray. Day and night. If you argue it's because the movie is older, fine, no problem but buyer beware. I never would have purchased this had I seen the video. It's not total crap but it's a boring slightly better than DVD video with poor narration and so-so cinematography which probably looked really good when it came out. In 2008, it's a disappointment.