Journey Into Amazing Caves

I first saw this IMAX film in Sydney on my trip down under. Not only was it amazing to see some of the most beautiful footage on a screen that is over 8 stories high, but the story was also very interesting to me. It had some incredible climbing scenes...112F in the Grand Canyon, 500' down into ice caves in Greenland, Bats in Georgia, and underwater cave diving in the Yucatan. It not only deals with the sport of caving, but one of the ladies in the film is a micro-biologists who is collecting rare extremophiles, microorganisms that live in extremely harsh environments, for scientific research. It was narrated by Liam Neeson with music by The Moody Blues. I bought it on DVD, knowing it would lose a lot visually going from the IMAX screen to my TV. I'm glad I did, because it has a "making of" documentary that was just as interesting as the IMAX movie, showing both the technical aspects of what went into the shoot as well as the personal side of those involved.

My daughter Maria and I were thrilled with so many scenes, especially:

the kayaks plummeting down waterfalls while searching for new caves to explore;

the scary heights of caves in the middle of cliffs only reachable by rappelling and/or crossing rivers by rope many, many feet high up;

descending into ice caverns where you hear the icicles falling and the glacier groaning;

and finally, the holding of our breath as they swam under water through body width openings in search of microorganisms, which was their main goal.

The plane/helicopter rides were breathtaking also - seemingly going to crash you right into the side of a mountain.

Their adventures in Iceland and North America, for the main sake of finding medical cures for the future, will never be forgotten.

(And, if my daughter and wife aren't reading this, the ladies were sure cute, besides being brave, dedicated, athletic and intelligent.)

I went into this movie expecting:

1) Excellent Cinematography worthy of the IMAX format, and

2)amazing caves.

These elements Ruined the film:

-sketchy, condescending, quasi-scientific "plot" (EXTREMOPHILES? give me a break!)

• annoying, unnecessary "characters", poorly developed,

-worst of all, the Moody Blues songs, which were cringe-inducing

throughout. This is good music, and has been for 30 years; but

whoever did the sound for this film is obviously a proud graduate

of the "way too much is almost enough" film school.

The star of this feature should have been the caves, (maybe if you

bring ear-plugs?), but instead we get:

-a spelunking hi-tech internet kindergarden teachers assistant,and

-a daredevil microbiologist, who pays lip service to a hazy

cure-for-all-illnesses pipe dream, but from the tiny amount of real

information about what she is doing, I think she is actually doing

biological weapons research, but doesn't know it. On second

thought, that would be too interesting.

TheTitle of this movie should have been: "ExtremeSports and 'Don't Worry We Hate Geology Even More

Than You Do' Present: The WonderTwins Conquer Cartoon Cavern! Starring the Voice of Liam Neeson! ROCK with the Moody Blues!"

By far the most involving IMAX movie ever. It takes you to some of the most far-reached and hazardous place on Earth and makes you feel like you are actually there.

(Enough with the corny stuff and on with the good part)

This documentary not only educates, but takes upon itself to share with the audience the passion, the danger, and the excitement of extreme speleology. A task that is accomplished in one swift stroke. The voyage takes us with experts Hazel Barton and Nancy Aulenbach to rocky caves in the Grand Canyon, icy caves in the Groenland and underwater caves in the tropics, in search of "extremophiles" (meaning love of the extreme), which are microorganisms which reside in once thought to be inhabitable habitats.We soon understand that they are themselves extremophiles, as they deeply love what they do and are always ready to embark on one perilous mission after the other. They risk their lives on numerous occasions and show courage and devotion in the name of science... and hey, because it's a lot of fun!!

The camera work is impeccable and makes maximum use of the IMAX technology to immerse the viewer in the fantastic experience. The directing is of high quality and creates a mood, a feel and a pace that keeps you captivated throughout. Stephen Judson, the director, utilize all the tools to make you part of what happens and make you understand the drive and desire that push those people to such limits. They come up with a perfect mixture of wonder, learning, adventure and tension.

The aesthetic composition of the visual arrangements recaptures admirably the natural splendor of the exotic surroundings. The flowing narration is combined with sincere and appropriate dialog (I don't think there exists one superfluous comment in the whole movie)

From beginning to end the feature never falters, and when you start to feel the fantastic journey skillfully build to the ending, you are suddenly struck with fondness and admittedly yearn for more. That's when it gets even better! It ends perfectly.

To see in original IMAX projection, preferably.

The scenery is breathtaking, the explorer/scientists brave and adventurous. What "Journey Into Amazing Caves" does is take viewers on an excursion to several caves -- virtually impossible to reach, in some cases never before seen by the human eye caves, spectacularly remote caverns tucked away in some of the Earth's most extreme landscapes. And they do it not so much for the joy of the journey as for, potentially, the benefit of mankind.

The theory behind these grand, yes life-threatening expeditions is that if organisms that can live in the earth's least friendly enviornments, if they can thrive despite extreme heat or cold or other hideously harsh conditions, they might well provide clues to cures for human disease.

The name for these extraordinarily hearty organisms is "extremeophiles," and the "stars" of "Journey Into Amazing Caves" set about reaching and collecting samples of these admirable little forms of life, from caves cut into the walls of the desert mountains of Arizona, and the ice caps of Greenland, and the deep seas and lagoons of the Yucatan Penninsula of Mexico.

At minimum, "Amazing Caves" is a collection of glorious moving-picture postcards, the likes of which you surely have never seen. At best, it is an inspirational look at some amazing feats that humans accomplish in order to fulfill, well, curiosity.

As the credits rolled today when I saw this film, the audience cheered. Take yourself on an expedition this summer, see planet Earth as you've not seen it before, give yourself something to cheer, go see this movie.