Rating: 
Summary: Good chase scenes
Review: More than many other computer-animation videos, this one works because it knows what it is. Even the best computer animation cannot compete with reality for realism. (Yes, that's tautological but think about it. Think about ALL tautologies.) Lots of nice chase scenes, which are the strong suit of animation. They're always exciting; they don't require the destruction of millions in cars nor the deployment of cadres of police, and most of all they eye doesn't linger long enough on any one thing to be disturbed by banality. Great detail in computer backgrounds is just as hard to do as great detail in the subject, and a chase focuses the attention. Too, the music is just right for animation. It is properly driving when it needs to be, and it recalls no other music. I dread the day when some fool tries to set an animation to "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik." Mr. Livgren was smarter. The animators also understand that virtual reality really is a mockery of reality, and concentrate on interesting images. I recall my anticipation in 1982 when MTV came out. I thought, "At last. Interesting pictures with the music." Of course we know the story of MTV: a dog's breakfast of arty or quirky shots, quite indigestible, and tiring to the eyes. This DVD however is much better. I've watched it four times. And one scene, with hammers quite pointlessly banging on steel, in a warehouse lit by light coming through slowly rotating fans, sticks in the mind. And it's funny too, something very rare in animation. If you buy one computer animation DVD, let it be this one.
Rating:
Summary: Very, very, very cool.
Review: Odyssey Into the Mind's Eye is an incredible video that showcases some awesome computer animation, and also has great music to bring the whole thing together. I used to work at a video store and I'd play this tape all the time and I had so many people ask to rent it. I highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Great graphics with fantastic music!
Review: Odyssey Into the Mind's Eye takes you on a journey through state of the art computer animation. The audio track was written by Kerry Livgren, the musical genius behind most of the best work of Kansas, including "Dust In The Wind." The amazing thing about the music is that all of it was written and performed by Livgren, who is multi-talented enough to play many different instruments. The tracks are then layered together to form a seamless composite that sounds like a full musical group. Don't miss this one!
Rating: 
Summary: Action is easy, humor isn't...
Review: One of the greatest things in this volume is the fact that it includes one of the funniest computer animation sequences ever. With today's technology, it's no great accomplishment to create wonderful action clips, etc., but it's a great animator that can create truly human humor that makes you howl with laughter. This one does it to the max! One of the funniest sequences ever set to animation is here when a very Orwellian group of hammers pound out a lifeless beat in synch with one another while a rebel hammer plays all of the counter-point and syncopated rythyms, etc -- the peer group pressure builds and the humor is pure belly laugh stuff! Great! The music here is brilliant if you love art rock or what's called "prog" but if you don't, then it's just too much for some I've shown it to. Kerry Livgren's score is very good but the vocal cut at the end is mediocre. (That's the reason for the 4 Star and not 5 rating.) But this is a magnificent effort overall. I have nearly the entire series and know many of the artists involved in making this. This is great stuff. If you want one of the finest titles in the genre, this is it...
Rating:
Summary: Action is easy, humor isn't...
Review: One of the greatest things in this volume is the fact that it includes one of the funniest computer animation sequences ever. With today's technology, it's no great accomplishment to create wonderful action clips, etc., but it's a great animator that can create truly human humor that makes you howl with laughter. This one does it to the max! One of the funniest sequences ever set to animation is here when a very Orwellian group of hammers pound out a lifeless beat in synch with one another while a rebel hammer plays all of the counter-point and syncopated rythyms, etc -- the peer group pressure builds and the humor is pure belly laugh stuff! Great! The music here is brilliant if you love art rock or what's called "prog" but if you don't, then it's just too much for some I've shown it to. Kerry Livgren's score is very good but the vocal cut at the end is mediocre. (That's the reason for the 4 Star and not 5 rating.) But this is a magnificent effort overall. I have nearly the entire series and know many of the artists involved in making this. This is great stuff. If you want one of the finest titles in the genre, this is it...
Rating:
Summary: Best of the genre
Review: The graphics are superb. The underwater chase scenes in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace are very reminiscent of the chase scenes toward the beginning of this video.If you are a Kansas fan, you'll immediately spot the style of Kerry Livren, the musical genius behind this video. Only two tracks have vocals. One is overtly Judeo/Christian expressing that only the Creator can satisfy. Livgren became a Christian before Kansas disbanded (just listen to Dust in the Wind or The Wall). The vocal track (next to the last) is the only one I don't like. The vocalist is Kerry's son, Jacob. It would be a good song if it weren't for an unecessary, irritating falsetto part that he sings. It is very badly done. If you do not like Kansas, you will not like the music. My brother first showed me this video a couple of years ago. I went out and got it myself. As soon as I am finished here I am ordering the DVD!
Rating:
Summary: The best in the series so far!!!
Review: The images in this most recent installment are breathtaking to say the least. The theme carries forward with a smooth transition of astounding images, and fans of Mind's Eye will have something to Oooh! and Aaah! about. I usually play my own music while viewing Mind's Eye titles, and this one had me scrambling for a variety of music! Very cool!!!
Rating:
Summary: Non-stop world-by-wolrd play-action animation
Review: The music and animation were spectacular. I felt that the animation sequences moved too quickly. Rather than taking the time to explore each computer-generated world in great detail, they move from world to world so quikly that you scarecly have time to take in the first one before they move to the next one. At least 2 or 3 DVD's could have been spread out to cover the animation content within this DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: Odyssey into Tripe
Review: The only two reasons you would consider viewing this are because you're a fan of the Mind's Eye series or interested in CGI in general. Take note: it doesn't live up to either standard. Don't purchase it, even used -- in fact, don't even rent it, or borrow it from a friend that may have been duped into owning it. If you are forced, or yet choose, to watch this, mute the television and play a deep ambient soundtrack instead. The only quote from the back cover which can be trusted is "Strap yourself in..." You'll have to if you intend on watching through the end. Both the musical score and the CGI are themselves inept -- taken together, even worse. The "camera" motion, when not stuttering behind moving objects, is too clinical, you can almost feel the programmer's commands... "turn POV left, stop. Pan up, stop. Zoom, stop." The content suffers the same fate of poor production. For instance, the first vignette, 'Oceanic Celebration,' is simply a montage of marine settings. They've taken this collection and given it a title and not much else -- sort of like the dolphin screensaver theme you can buy from an office supply store. Some of the other segments at least have a little story, and 'Out of Step' has a little lesson, but even then you're subject to the amateur editing -- quick and redundant cuts between scenes and camera angles. The quality of the CGI itself is underwhelming, not bad, but not good either. But let's say you're willing to watch this anyways. You will still have to deal with the soundtrack. The cover quotes "Powered by a soaring original score from KERRY LIVGREN, founder and former guitarist of legendary rock group Kansas." Right there you know you're holding a winner. I suppose some of the tracks aren't horrible, but taken in context with the content, this is just a marketing concept gone awry. The rock score not only clashes with the whole idea of CGI, but it doesn't even match the animation in each piece. (Correction: there is a single minute of synchronicity, with the festive hammer in 'Out of Step' -- but its little theme is so jarring from the rest of the piece that you shake your head anyways.) That's bad enough, and then you get to the vocal tracks with 'One Dark World' and 'Aspen Moon' -- these are perhaps the only redeeming value of this odyssey, which at its worst moments will at least finally make you laugh.
Rating:
Summary: surprisingly great!
Review: This album is one of the best things KERRY LIVGRIN has done, with or without KANSAS. Most of it is instrumental. The surpris-
ing thing, or one of the surprising things, is LIVGRIN's guitar
playing, which has never sounded better, especially his lead
guitar playing. This is the most hard rock oriented album that
I've heard him do. Another surprising thing is how good these
songs are. My favorite songs include the album's opening cut
"OCEANIC CELEBRATION"; a very heavy progressive rocker with
a very catchy guitar riff and some outstanding drumming and
CREDENCE LENT and UTOPIAN DREAM. What's nice is that it doesn't
sound a bit like his work with KANSAS and it sure beats anything
they've done since he left. A very enjoyable progressive hard rock album!
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