IMAX: Elephants of Africa 1999
This doesn’t sound like it would be one of the best IMAX movies ever, but it really is. It won’t make you motion sick as you careen through canyons and mountains (well, they squeeze a little of that in) but it definitely succeeds in bringing you as close to elephants as you would ever want to be. And not just visually, but also as you get to know a clan of African elephants making their way through the seasons and life and death. There is a great deal of emotional depth, some of it as part of the story (I have to think the filmmakers took a few liberties), but much of it from the elephants themselves as you see them deal with rearing their young and dealing with death (anyone who thinks animals don’t have emotions will have their mind changed by this film). Maybe the quality of this one is a little better than many IMAX movies because it was made by the Discovery Channel rather than the IMAX people (who tend to make movies that show off the technology but lack inspiration). If you like animals, don’t miss it. Showing at Fernbank.
I give it an A.
Written: 04 Sep 1999