A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Magnificent Desolation: A Walk on the Moon (IMAX)

Date Viewed: 11/18/05

Details:

Tom Hanks (narrator)

The voices of many Apollo astronauts

Written & directed by: Mark Cowen

Score: 0

The Review: Disappointing on many levels, Magnificent Desolation sells itself as experiencing the lunar surface from the viewpoint of the astronauts who explored it. And to the extent it uses NASA footage from the Apollo missions, stretching the images to work on the immense IMAX screen, this is successful. But when it tries to make a movie to track the accidents that could have happened, and other actor- (and studio-) based reconstructions, it is much less satisfactory. Occasional tugs at the heartstrings with the hopes and dreams of some young children are sometimes amusing, but they do not an IMAX experience make.

The history of much of the Apollo program is touched upon, and there is substantial (and occasionally interesting) voice-over commentary by astronauts past and present. The nearly monochrome scenery from the moon's surface is always fascinating, and I wish they had provided much more of it, and less of distracting attempts at glitz.

The strongest message and perhaps the best reason to see this short film, irrespective of its faults, is to get into the properly reflective mood to ask the question, "We've been there before; when will we go again?" Another way to get into this mood is to watch multiple episodes of the HBO special From the Earth to the Moon (also narrated, as well as produced, by Tom Hanks), which is much more interesting than Desolation, if a bit longer. But for many of us of a certain age, all we have to do to get into this mood is simply look up into a clear night sky and gaze at the white ball floating a mere 240,000 miles away. This is definitely not a "been there, done it" sort of moment.

(22-Jan-06)

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