Customer Reviews

Journey Into Amazing Caves (IMAX)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a well-produced DVD and the imagery is very high resolution. Contrast and color are very good. Liam Neeson is an outstanding narrator. Most of the imagery of the movie is great. Very dramatic panoramas, especially the helicopter fly-throughs. You will enjoy watching the movie once.

Unfortunately, the reason I don't rate it more than 3 stars is Amazing Caves suffers the common IMAX shortcoming that it has been produced as an all ages, all audiences film ... with a juvenile story, written at the 4th grade level. Too much of this brief 40 minute movie is wasted tending to the silly plot.

One can sit through it once and enjoy it, certainly if you have kids with you, and at a real IMAX theater. Your kids might enjoy watching it more than once, especially younger daughters since the two main characters are women scientists/adventurers. But with kids being so smart and worldly these days, even 6th graders would tire of the simplistic story and narration.

Why can't there be IMAX movies with appeal at a more intelligent level? Everest is a good example of an IMAX movie which does succeed in appealing to all audiences, but isn't written at a juvenile level.

The great caving and nature imagery in Amazing Caves is very frequently interrupted so they can keep tending to their story line of two women on their caving exploration and adventure, always "getting in contact" via a hoaky-looking simulated web video multimedia laptop screen with a small class of kids somewhere. Of course it is simulated and plain silly. There is no live contact with anyone. Probably filmed months apart. Yet they keep returning to this .... story, at least 10 times during the movie. Very annoying. Maybe it will appeal to young kids ...

Since IMAX movies are so short anyway, why don't they produce an alternate-cut of IMAX movies so that when 6 months later they release it on DVD, they can include the theatrical, all-ages juvenile story film, and a more intelligent, less pandering version with more interesting and meaningful narration, and cutting out the 30% of the film wasted on hoaky story devices and replacing it with more excellent, dramatic imagery. I know this means extra work, but it would likely result in more DVD sales. Maybe they could even show both versions (Kids, Grown-Ups) at the theaters.

I have a large-screen projection system (162") with 10-channel surround. I have a large collection of IMAX movies. I am always looking for good, high-resolution nature, space and science movies. I just wish that more IMAX movies were actually worth watching multiple times, without having to suffer through juvenile stories, plot devices and elementary-school writing.

If you want to see the movie for its good imagery, just rent somewhere or it or buy it on Amazon. You can always sell it again in the Amazon Marketplace, just like I did.

This is the most misleadlingly (is that a word?)titled movie I have ever seen. Amazing caves? What caves? The first 15 minutes of this reletively short 40 minute film don't take place in any cave. All they do is talk about them. Then when they finally enter a cave they are there for a few seconds. The few and far between cave scenes are interspersed with lots kayaking scenes, laboratory scenes, and classroom scenes. Was this film funded by the pharmasutical industry? The lead scientist in the film is always saying how she does this cave dwelling stuff to find exrtremophiles that will create new cures for diseases. Blechh! I wanted a movie about caves that showed beautiful caves. Granted, the latter half of the film provided more cave time but it was too little too late with too much of an environmental-disease-curing propaganda feel to it than I could stomach. It should have been titled "How To Search for New Cures in a Few Caves while Being Environmentally Conscious." Somehow I don't think that title would have sold many IMAX tickets or DVD's.

This is first and foremost a journey about two scientists looking for extremophiles. It just happens that where they are searching is in caves. The caves are spectacular, but since the focus is on the scientist you are left wanting more.

I was also disappointed in that it really wasn't narrated by Liam Neeson. He introduced the movie, but the majority was the scientist explaining what they were doing. When I read that the movie was "narrated" I was expecting something more along the lines of how David Attinborough narrates Planet Earth.

If you are looking for something more along the Planet Earth or the Scenic National Park Series, you may want to think twice about buying this DVD. This video was okay, but I don't know how many times I will re-watch this so I don't think I received full value for my money.

Two stars, because:

- The music by The Moody Blues is intrusive. It's everywhere, all the time, telling you how to feel and what to think. It's like watching the movie with someone who won't shut up. I tried finding an additional soundtrack without the music, or maybe with the music toned down a bit, but no such luck. If I'm ever going to see this film again, it'll have to be with the volume off.

- One of the climbers is incessantly repeating that they're doing this because it might lead to the cure for some disease. Just in case we thought they were crazy adventurers and not scientists. You even get the obligatory shot of a scientist doing scientific things inside a laboratory. I want CAVES! I don't care why they do it, I won't judge...

- There aren't nearly enough caves.

First of all, I am a caver. Before watching this IMAX movie in DC in an IMAX Theater I was afraid I would be disappointed because I realized this movie was to be made for the general public, was I wrong. All thru this movie I kept thinking to myself, I can't wait until this movie is out on DVD, well it is and I highly recommend it. True, it is written to address the general public, but as a caver of over 40 yrs I throughly enjoyed it and I have also bought the CD of the Soundtrack, it is a 5 star in my mind also and I am not a Moody Blues fan.
The photography is super, I like the behind the scenes part as much as the movie, so you are getting two shows for the price of one. If something happened to my DVD of "Journey Into Amazing Caves", I would have to go out and buy another for my DVD library, I like it that much.
I have seen a few IMAX movies in my time and this is one of my favorites, if not my favorite, but I am a caver and I like caves.

The concept is great, but the film leaves you wanting for more. First off, getting only 35 minutes of story seems somewhat of a shortcut for the money you spend on a DVD. The subject matter is caves, and if you are interested in the strange beauty of these areas like I am, you are not satisfied with the film. They spend more time on the human element and diversions such as the kayaking mentioned in an earlier review. They needed to dedicated more time to showing the wonderful formations that could be found inside the caves.

most of this movie was a search for extremophiles
there were more flyby mountain scenes, kayaking scenes, scenes of second graders than actual scenes of caves
the cave diving segment was pretty cool; thats why i gave it 3 stars not 2
if want to see something with lots of insides of caves this is not for you

Some of the scene's were amazing, like the ice cave scene. The movie followed two girls doing research. I wanted more caves, and exploring them. This was pretty lame. The 2nd graders, made me think I was watching the magic school bus. If they would have shown more "AMAZING" caves then it would have been better.

This video was a disappointment. I purchased the video to see beautiful cave scenery, not someone hanging off the side of a mountain. The focus should have been on the caves and the scenery within, NOT on the people making the video. The title was very misleading, plus one disk, you have to play on a computer which I did not know at time of purchase. I though I was buying a DVD video with two disk (must check product description closely). Wish I could return it for a refund.

Even on a small screen, this IMAX special is riveting. With visits to dry, ice and water caves, there are always thrilling moments. Most of the first third deals with accessing the cave in the Grand Canyon with some nifty aerial tricks. However, there is only a glimpse of the cavern itself. More time is spent kayaking on the actual blue-green Colorado River. The Greenland ice cave sequence again is more about the harrowing and dangerous aspect of unstable blue-ice caves, but still manages to thrill with fantastic photography. The one last sequence in the cenotes of Mexico is truly amazing with divers actually taking off thier tanks to squeeze through holes!

The great soundtrack by the Moody Blues is not readily apparent and is played down except at the end and beginning. The narration is sometimes annoying and juvenile, providing information that teenagers might find interesting. I expected more cave shots and not science lessons.

However, this is a great film and includes a "behind the scenes" story that is every bit as interesting as the main movie. The soundtrack in itself if better as a separate CD.