Review: "Sea Rex 3D: Journey to a Prehistoric World"

Toothsome beasties and gruesome monsters of the past come alive in the new IMAX film, "Sea Rex 3D: Journey to a Prehistoric World." It's a computer-animated wonder, as marine reptiles of the Jurassic period -- and even older -- do battle under the ocean's surface in impressive, computer-generated scenes sure to delight the young and old ... though mostly the young.

Note I called them "marine reptiles" and not "dinosaurs." Georges Cuvier (Richard Rider), the father of modern paleontology, is our guide on this time-traveling journey, as well as our instructor. His first lesson: Only land-bound reptiles are called dinosaurs.

The tone of the film is definitely pitched to school-age kids, and the fight scenes between reptile and reptile, or reptile and fish, stop just short of bloody flesh-rending. Although a final showdown between a prehistoric shark and a Mesosaur -- a marine reptile with massive jaws and teeth that resembles an alligator crossed with an extra-terrestrial -- has messy results.

Cuvier, who studied an early Mesosaur skeleton in the late 1700s, becomes our guide, materializing like a ghost for Julie (Chloe Hollings), a teen visiting a natural history museum. He gives her an ancient reptile tooth and proceeds to direct her -- and us -- through the lesser-known history of marine reptiles.

It's fascinating stuff, whether you're a science buff or not, and rookie directors Ronan Chapalain and Pascal Vuong, who co-wrote the script with Richard Dowlearn, smartly concentrate on the shape and sizes of the various creatures, and what they ate -- which was often each other.

Let's face it, youngsters first get interested in dinosaurs for their gigantic proportions and eating habits, so there's no reason it would be different with their undersea brethren. Even the film's title -- a play off T-Rex -- reinforces that angle.

Things start off a little slow with a historical overview of Earth's first 3.5 billion years or so, before any non-microscopic life forms developed. But the action soon ramps up, and the movie's 41 minutes fly by fast.
Part biology lesson, and part slick CGI adventure, "Sea Rex 3D" makes education cool.

3 stars out of four

Review: "The Wildest Dream"

It is accepted historical fact that Sir Edmund Hillary was the first person to climb to the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. But was he really the first?

The new IMAX film "The Wildest Dream" explores the attempt nearly 30 years earlier by George Mallory, who disappeared on the final ascent with his young partner Sandy Irvine. It also chronicles a modern attempt to re-create Mallory's climb, and suggests that Mallory achieved the summit, and died in some mishap on the way back down.

In 1999 climber Conrad Anker found Mallory's body on the north face of the mountain, eerily well-preserved by the freezing climate. A re-creation of this is shown in the documentary -- I assume it's a recreation, since by all accounts they buried the body after finding it.

It was known that Mallory carried a picture of his beloved wife Ruth with him that he intended to plant on the top of Everest. Since the photograph was not found on the body, even though letters and other personal effects were all accounted for, many observers are led to believe that he kept his promise.

Anthony Geffen, a veteran producer making his directing debut, balances historical footage and records of Mallory with the modern tale of Anker, who wants to tread in Mallory's footsteps to see if it's possible.

In particular, they want to see if Mallory and Houlding could best the "Second Step," a sheer cliff face near the summit. Modern climbers use a metal ladder bolted to the mountain, but for their attempt Anker and his young partner, Leo Houlding, have the ladder removed and try to free-climb the cliff.

Geffen captures the spirit of adventure that motivated explorers in the early 20th century -- vibrantly tapped into by the animated Pixar film "Up" -- Westerners who desired to conquer every challenge the globe had to offer. Mallory made two previous attempts to explore and climb Everest, and his fatal attempt in 1924 was to be his last before retiring to hearth and home.

Mallory is most remembered for the answer he gave when asked why he was trying to climb the highest peak in the world? "Because it's there," he said.

Narrated by Liam Neeson, with recreations using the voices of Ralph Fiennes, the late Natasha Richardson, Alan Rickman and Hugh Dancy, "The Wildest Dream" is an often gripping account of the men who dare to climb toward heaven, and sometimes pay the ultimate price.

3 stars out of four

Review: "The Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D"

Professional surfers are people who turned goofing off into a sport and a career.

I don't say this to be dismissive of surfers like Kelly Slater, considered by many the best surfer ever and the star of the new IMAX film, "The Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D."

Just as there are now folks who make their living playing video games, and even a few people (though not nearly as many as a few years ago) watching movies as a livelihood, Slater and his kind found something they loved to do and willed it into more than a pastime.

On the surface, "Wave" is the story of some surfers looking for really gnarly tubes off the beaches of Tahiti. But it's also about the friendship between Slater and Raimana Van Bastolear, a native who helps elite surfers find that ultimate wave.

Van Bastolear had the talent to be a world champion, Slater says, but chose to stay near his family and his people, who feel a spiritual connection with the ocean that combines respect and fear.

Director Stephen Low, an IMAX veteran, uses his high-resolution cameras to capture the amazing action, including some shots that were photographed with a camera mounted to the surfboard itself.

The action is familiar: We've seen these sorts of shots of surfers racing through a closing wormhole of water, or shredding the wave with fancy acrobatic patterns. But having it come at you on the big screen in 3-D is something else.

Low also uses computerized graphics to show how waves form in the ocean, and how the special geography of places like Tahiti bends them into "The Demon Wave," as the locals call the man-crushing liquid tornadoes that can dump 20 tons of water onto anyone unlucky enough to slip off their board.

The movie gets a little hippy-dippy with some animated sequences about the special relationship between the Tahitians and the island, using the big ceremonial masks as cartoonish stand-ins for the pioneers who first settled there centuries ago.

I'd love to see a documentary about their journey and history, but this sequence feels shoved into the middle of a movie about surfing. The really serious wave-riding doesn't start until about halfway through the film's 45 minutes, and it arrives not a moment too soon.

But we're soon caught up in the magnificent footage of Slater, Van Bastolear and others cutting through the surf with expert grace, and we forgive the film for dallying. "The Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D" is the best water ride around that won't leave you soaked.

3 stars out of four

Review: "Hubble 3D"

There's a moment in "Hubble 3D," the new IMAX film, that may make you gnaw your fingernails down to the stubs. Two astronauts, working for hours in bulky spacesuits, are working inside the guts of the Hubble Telescope to effect some tricky repairs.

One tiny slip among the delicate circuit boards and lenses, and Hubble's billions of dollars worth of technology is instantly transformed into so many pounds of space junk. It's especially poignant because the May 2009 mission is one of the final flights for the NASA space shuttle program.

Faced with budget cuts, NASA officials at first were just going to let Hubble -- which has been projecting amazing images from space for nearly two decades -- rot in orbit. A legislative push got the funds for a final mission to repair and upgrade Hubble.

"Hubble 3D" is the result of that blessedly successful endeavor. Writer/director Toni Myers -- and IMAX veteran -- splits the 43-minute film into alternating segments chronicling the mission to repair Hubble, shot by the astronauts themselves, and wading through the resulting images of their work.

Presented in drop-your-jaw 3D, both sets of images make for a fascinating and engaging journey into space.

Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, "Hubble" occasionally wanders into self-serving grandiosity: DiCaprio describes the launch mission for the telescope as setting "the great eagle" adrift "to soar in orbit." But the view is so breathtaking, that dollop of schmaltz doesn't detract for long.

The astronauts, with their all-American can-do spirit, might come across as caricatures, except that they're so serious and focused on their mission that we find it impossible to feel anything but empathy for their dedication.

"Now I know why surgeons go 'Yoo-hoo!' when they pull something out," one says after completing seven hours of difficult repairs. At least surgeons can scratch their noses.
Then there's the exploration through the vastness of the universe, which the 3D images translate into a virtual expedition.

As we watch whole galaxies whiz by and dive deep into the Orion Nebula -- ''a nursery for stars'' -- the experience is not unlike sitting in the captain's chair aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, with our commands sending us hurtling in whatever direction we want.

"Hubble 3D" is an IMAX film that stokes our twin passions for technology and exploration. Time to boldly go.

3.5 stars