Customer Reviews

Nascar: The Imax Experience

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I come from the heart of NASCAR country, and I have a lot of race memories going back a good quarter of a century now. I love racing, but I really haven't been able to watch it since that black day when Dale Earnhardt lost his life at Daytona; I doubt I'll ever be able to watch another Daytona 500 as long as I live. Still, I'd love to get past the loss of the Man in Black and make NASCAR a part of my Sunday rituals once again. That's the main reason I decided to watch NASCAR: The IMAX Experience. Of course, I have only seen it in the privacy of my own home, so I can't speak to the actual IMAX theatre experience. It's a good show, but I guess I was just expecting a little bit more out of it.

The main limitation of the film is its length; you can only say so much about the rich history of NASCAR in forty-eight minutes. There's a decent look at the origins of the sport, but most of the historical attention is placed on a select few superstars of years past. The behind-the-scenes look at the way cars are built and maintained is excellent, but many of the really technical aspects of car design are not covered - you'll get a quick picture of the way drafting works, but pushing and pulling, for example, aren't covered at all. You do get a good sense of the time and expense that goes in to making each and every race happen, though. Pit crews and spotters are given their due, and rightly so, and you also get a small taste of tail-gating and driver interaction with the public. That interaction goes a long way toward making NASCAR the fan success it is. You also get to hear from a few wives who bear the tough burden of being married to a driver, and this discussion easily spills over into a discussion of safety. Several drivers also make comments throughout the film, but all too often, the actual driver is not identified - if you can't recognize the voice, you won't know who is speaking on several occasions. I thought the selection of driver comments was also too limited, as some big names are left out entirely. The big thrills supposedly come from the IMAX footage of on-the-track action, but there's nothing all that special about the footage outside of an IMAX theatre setting. Frankly, I don't think the non-3D experience matches the footage you can see on your own television set come the next race Sunday.

If you're an established NASCAR fan, you may not get all that much out of NASCAR: The IMAX Experience, although you will surely find it enjoyable. Those new to the sport, however, can get a good sense of the excitement and enthusiasm the sport generates among its fans. You won't feel the thunder of the engines in your gut, though. Nothing, not even NASCAR: The IMAX Experience, compares to the excitement generated on any given race day.

This is an unbelievable movie. I saw it at the IMAX theater and was blown away and now the DVD is almost as good. I want to make a couple of things clear, however. You people who are dogging this DVD for not being widescreen need to understand that the actual IMAX format is not widescreen. It is 4:3, not 16:9. It is IMAX for a reason. This movie and other IMAX movies WILL not and SHOULD not be shown in widescreen format, because that is not the original IMAX format. You people should go see an IMAX movie and notice the square shaped picture and not the rectangle that normal movies are shown. Get a clue. Another thing, making a 3-D DVD is not as simple as throwing in a pair of paper glasses. You must have special equipment including a 3-D projector and special electronic glasses. Even then it will not be the quality of IMAX. Back to the DVD itself. You will not be dissapointed. Unbelievable picture and sound quality makes for the ultimate DVD experience. You will love this movie.

I bought this DVD because of hearing that it was a 3D IMAX film and hoped that Warner Bros. would have did the right thing and made both the 2D and 3D versions available on the disc. Sadly, this isn't the case. Granted, the movie is a NASCAR fans dream with lots of great historical information on the creation of the sport, an in-depth look behind-the-scenes at how the cars are made, what all goes into setting up the pits at the races, etc. and so on. Plus, some wonderful in-car and racing with the vehicles perspectives. But, without the 3D experience, the movie is just not what it could have been. There is still a LOT of room left on this DVD for the field-sequential video edition, plus other interesting extras like a making-of featurette (which is strangely missing for an IMAX disc). I'd like to know why they were left out. In short, get the movie if you are a NASCAR fan, but don't if you believe it will be in 3D like it was at the IMAX theaters.

This contains some of the best IMAX 3-D yet. If you've not yet seen a good 3-D film, start with this one. It will show you what the future of cinema can look like. There are a couple of very brief troublesome shots, but the vast majority of this film is jaw droppingly good. SEE IT NOW!

I am not a NASCAR fan, plain and simple. But I am a big advocate of IMAX films, both ones about nature and ones about 200 mph cars. This is a great flick, from narration all the way down to the filming of the pictures. The camera angles bring you into the sport and show that the sport is actually more than racing, it is actually a bit of science with the drafting, and new technology in the sport.

I've always said the IMAX adventure doesn't truly come to life in the theater the way it does in your living room, and "NASCAR: The IMAX Experience" is Exhibit A for my case. I nearly dived under my couch when all 15 inches of Jeff Gordon's car came hurtling at me!

This movie is more like a documentary, but it shows you everything you need to know about NASCAR; from building a car from the floor up and more. It helped me understand alot about the behind the scenes of racing that I didn't know before.

I was born and raised in the Heartland of America. High school students around this area of the country still have illegal drag races every now and again down a dirt lane. NASCAR has always been big around here, long before it began capturing the attention of the mainstream public intrest. However, I've never been a NASCAR fan. NASCAR races never captured my attention that other sports and activities did. In fact, until about a month ago, I still viewed the sport as largely being expensive "hick entertainment" (I'm a hick myself).

Seeing NASCAR: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE changed my opinion of the sport. The movie provides a very brief explanation of the history of the sport and touches on many of the different elements that go into building and creating a successful racing organization and team. The movie is fairly short (around 50 minutes) which won't seem very long for those who already have a serious interest in NASCAR. However, for a person like me who is a complete novice to the sport, I found the movie to be both entertaining and educational. I was impressed and gained a newfound appreciation for NASCAR. In fact, after watching the movie I had a desire to go off and start racing cars myself.

Wow. From Boogedy, Boogedy, Boogedy to the Star Spangled Banner (which gives me chills when i watch it) this movie ROCKS!!! I loved to get up close with the racers and feeling like you are actually along for the ride! The quality of this movie is unlike any other I have seen...I am so impressed with this DVD! NASCAR fans-- I HIGHLY recommend it!!! You wont be disappointed.

There would be no point in denying that "NASCAR: The IMAX Experience" loses a little something in its transference to the small screen. However, it's still an eye-popping documentary for both diehard racing fans and those viewers who know little or nothing about the sport - although the hardcore aficionados might wish there had been a little less talk on the soundtrack and a little more action on the racetrack to make the experience a more compelling and complete one.

This comes as a bit of a surprise, especially considering the fact that the film was originally shot in the 3-D IMAX format. One might reasonably expect that the movie would be little more than a succession of speeding cars and hurtling objects aimed directly at the stunned eyes of the audience. Not so, for the movie actually spends far more time on the nuts-and-bolts, behind-the-scenes aspects of NASCAR than on the racing itself. The film provides a brief background on the organization's less-than-savory moonshine roots, then proceeds to fill us in on various aspects of the sport itself, including the construction, specifications and testing of the cars, the training of the pit crews, the loyalty of the fans, etc. It also takes time out to honor the memory of the late racing great Dale Earnhardt, although due to the film's rather meager 49 minute running time, the tribute, like virtually everything else in the movie, comes across as a little more halfhearted and perfunctory than, perhaps, in all good conscience, it should.

To get most of the racing shots, director Simon Wincer strapped his camera crew into vehicles of their own in order to provide audiences with an experience as close to the real thing as possible. The majority of these sequences come in the last ten minutes or so of the film. As with all IMAX productions, the clarity and beauty of the picture is, indeed, a wonder to behold, with the colors literally leaping off the screen in many-hued splendor. Even without 3-D glasses and a two-story sized screen, this is a great visual experience. Now if they could have just shown a little more racing...