Galapagos Reviews

The next best thing to being there. For their latest excursion into the virtually VR world of 3D filmmaking, the adventurous folks at IMAX invite you to tag along with marine biologist Dr. Carole Baldwin and her team as they explore the astounding natural beauty of the Galapagos Islands, the Pacific archipelago whose unusual inhabitants inspired Charles Darwin to formulate his revolutionary theory of evolution. Dr. Baldwin's expedition begins with a descent into a dark cave with vaulted, cathedral-like ceilings, and ends with journey to the bottom of the sea — some 3,000 feet below sea-level, to be precise — where all manner of unearthly creatures live in total darkness. Along the way, we come face to face with finches, marine iguanas (those sooty, amphibious reptiles Darwin dubbed the "imps of darkness"), sea lions, hammerhead sharks, spotted moray eels, thousands of fish, and the venerable giant tortoise, that mossy Goliath whose assortment of shell shapes got Dr. Darwin to thinking. The 3D photography is put to dazzling use, particularly when it comes to schools of multi-colored fish darting across the screen. And while it would have been nice to see a little more of the famous Galapagos birds, it's hard to argue against co-director Al Gidding's spectacular underwater photography. But for a non-fiction nature film co-produced by the Smithsonian Institution, it's a little thin on facts, and heavy on Dr. Baldwin's corny, gee-whiz voiceover. Clearly the film's primary objective is to dazzle, not inform. So think of it as a super-sized Animal Planet segment (and with the IMAX screen towering some 80 feet above audiences' heads, we do mean super), dumbed-down just enough so what little you're actually learning won't in any way detract from what you're seeing.