Journey Into Amazing Caves

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 loved this film! It was beautiful and interesting and lasted just long enough to keep me satisfied and never, ever bored. The scenery and cave footage certainly did not disappoint. This film takes the average viewer to incredible places they would never experience first-hand. Quite amazing and I recommend it. It is only 40 minutes long but worth every minute in my humble opinion. I didn't feel cheated by the shorter length- it felt just right. This film also gave me a deeper appreciation for the people who embark on these missions to collect samples that otherwise would not make it to the research lab. Wow! Amazing that they can get the footage of these places. I did enjoy the music too. I hope to see more shows like this one!

Four researchers are in Arizona looking into the extreme environment of caves to search for new organisms and new medicines. Nancy Holler Aulenbach is a cave climber specialist. Hazel Barton is collecting biological specimens. She is also on leave as a teaching assistant in a second grade class. She does presentations to the class over the computer. The group travels around the globe.

It's one of those science center movies. It's a second tier production. One of the ladies kept mentioning her husband. She needs to stop that. I like the computer presentations to the kids. The old computers are fun. She should do the ice sliding for the kids to see. That's what they want. They want to see her climbing and crawling inside the caves. All in all, this is fine but nothing special.

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.

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.