Rating: 
Summary: A big disappointment. Best watched in silence.
Review: "The Greatest Places" has a syrupy and cloying narrative. I often used MUTE in order to endure it.I give it 1 star. If Avery Brooks could only have had laryngitis that day ... this movie could have earned a 3 instead (without *any* narration). The low grade for the movie really isn't Brooks' fault, although he does a superb job of melodically drawing out each sappy line with his highly skilled voice. At the end, watching the credits, I cursed the writer. Moving on to the cinematography: Some of the images were, as you should expect, quite breathtaking! I was especially engaged by Madagascar and Namib. But the power of this imagery was consistently undermined with choppy editing and many dozens of abrupt cuts (every 15 to 20 seconds) from panoramic landscapes to adorably cute animals and other close-ups. Arrggghh ... how frustrating! Each time that amazing scenery sweeps over you with its awesomeness and spectacle, it's crudely jerked away and replaced with something to make a first grader go "awww that's cute". What's the movie about, anyway? Is it supposed to be Places (geography, landscapes) or biology (cute animals and closeups of flora & fauna)? I'm not sure the creators of Greatest Places had a clear idea about their concept. The frequent changes in scale -- from viewing aerials of miles of landscape and switching to face-shots of baby animals -- are enough to give you vertigo, or at least a headache. The movie began with a valid concept. But together with a horrible writer, Brooks' outstanding saccharine execution of a juvenile narrative, and "gotta get a little of every shot in here" editing, the entire movie was lost. I wouldn't watch it again (but I would order some 16 x 20 color prints from the movie's imagery.) For more on "Greatest Places" check it out at Internet Movie Database ... which currently rates it at 4.2/10 with 9 votes).
Rating: 
Summary: A Short Tour Of Planet Earth
Review: An Imax film with no real plot or story, its a short tour of some of "The Greatest Places" on Planet Earth. (I would have given the film an extra star if there had been some sort of "connection" for the audience). There are some truely stunning wildlife and location images in the films 40 minutes and because of that it really needs to be seen either at an Imax cinema or on a large sceen TV, but even on my TV at home it looked incredible. The film visits the Amazon, Namib, Greenland, Okavango, Greenland, Tibet, Iguazu and Madagascar spending differnt amounts of time at each. Some of the places visited deserved a bit more time spent on them while others could have been a bit shorter. An interesting feature of this DVD that I'd like to see more of is the seperate Music and Ambiance track. You can turn off the narration, (which is a bit corny at times), and just listen to the music and natural sounds. The only problem with this feature is that the music decreases in volume where the narration would be then comes up again when the narration stops. (Also features a description track for the blind). Dispite this the music and natural sounds are excellent. Well worth repeated viewing for the armchair tourist.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome!
Review: Awesome. Just awesome. If you have access to a PC projector, watch it on your wall. It is simply awesome.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: Awesome. Just awesome. If you have access to a PC projector, watch it on your wall. It is simply awesome.
Rating:
Summary: A way for people to travel without spending alot of money
Review: I don't get to travel, so this is my way of experiencing other lands and cultures. I have a friend who has a large screen projector home theater system. This DVD was excellent for this type of viewing and listening experience. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the DVD movie. It was like taking a space ship to another world and having a narrator explain it to you. Colors were clear and vivid, background music was soothing, I found it to be relaxing, and a way to escape the stresses of life.
Rating:
Summary: Great scenery, when you actually get a chance to look at it
Review: I watched this DVD shortly after returning from 7 months straight of traveling around Asia, India/Nepal, Arabia, and Australia. I started it up with much anticipation, hoping it would wet my appetite (Which needed and continues to get a rest at the moment) for more travel to places further afield.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with an earlier reviewer. The video skips around so fast and frequently that hardly enough time is given to enjoying the manificient landscapes that the video team traveled too. I found myself replaying certain sections and pressing the pause button. This video could have been so much more. They started with a great idea.
The off the beaten path destinations themselves make me give this video 3 stars. Perhaps the preferred IMAX feature length does not lend itself to such a video that travels to numerous places. Perhaps if the team concentrated on 1/2 as many places the result would have been better.
Rating:
Summary: It's not great but good.
Review: It's not one of the best IMAX movies out there. But is very interesting and very well presented. The audio and video are of great quality. The only reason I couldn't rate it great was because 40 min. is too short a time to cover 6 great places in the world. I wish they made it at least 60 min.
Rating:
Summary: The Earth's highlights?
Review: The IMAX is often used to bring the beauty of the world to large-screen theatres everywhere. These ambitious travelogues are all the more splendid because of the IMAX wide-screen format. But, not many of us have 5-story screens in their living room and no matter how great the DVD format; currently it can't hold all the information that appears on the screen. Well, the good news is, the IMAX films look great on DVD. And GREATEST PLACES is no exception. This feature spends time at different locations around the world showing us sights that we can rarely see. The greatest of these is the humongous Iguazo Falls where 275 separate falls cascade around an enormous crescent land formation. This is the highlight of the film. And there in lies this efforts main problem. This episode shows short `highlights' of much longer films that don't exist. The Iguazo Falls section isn't longer than a minute. But, then again, they probably can't have it fill it's own forty minute feature. So, it is compiled with other mini-features, which leaves you wanting more of some and less of the others. Sort of a Pot Pourri of locations, GREATEST PLACES is valuable for young children and features a narration by Avery Brooks.
Rating:
Summary: The Earth's highlights?
Review: The IMAX is often used to bring the beauty of the world to large-screen theatres everywhere. These ambitious travelogues are all the more splendid because of the IMAX wide-screen format. But, not many of us have 5-story screens in their living room and no matter how great the DVD format; currently it can't hold all the information that appears on the screen. Well, the good news is, the IMAX films look great on DVD. And GREATEST PLACES is no exception. This feature spends time at different locations around the world showing us sights that we can rarely see. The greatest of these is the humongous Iguazo Falls where 275 separate falls cascade around an enormous crescent land formation. This is the highlight of the film. And there in lies this efforts main problem. This episode shows short 'highlights' of much longer films that don't exist. The Iguazo Falls section isn't longer than a minute. But, then again, they probably can't have it fill it's own forty minute feature. So, it is compiled with other mini-features, which leaves you wanting more of some and less of the others. Sort of a Pot Pourri of locations, GREATEST PLACES is valuable for young children and features a narration by Avery Brooks.
Rating: 
Summary: Short but sweet!!!
Review: The movie and the sound is good. I may rate as 5 stars if this movie is not too short. It lasts when you just get relaxed. But despite this,it worths to buy. This dvd means traveling the most interesting places in your home!!
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