Galapagos: IMAX (1999)

Documentary. My youngest son and I saw Galapagos 3D today at the Houston Museum of Natural Science's IMAX theater. It is a fine and inspiring documentary reminiscent of most films in the IMAX genre. The 3D effects are especially fun since you feel you could reach out and touch the various creatures basking or swimming in front of you. (Here's how you can tell a 3D production as it ends from a non-3D: When you remove the stereoscopic glasses, the movie titles are superimposed, offset, and quivering.) However, I have no idea what film other Netflix members saw because I have to disagree with 40 of the 44 previous reviewers who criticize the film as boring and insubstantial. In fact, from their litany of complaints, I get the distinct impression they are mostly homeschooling families that have specific (and oft-stated) objections to women as scientists, women as narrators, women scientists who enjoy their work, women in shorts, women in bathing suits, and the theory of evolution itself. They also complain that 90% of the film is underwater -- it's more like 33% -- and that having a narrator gets in the way of the film, esp. when she comments on how unique or wonderful this most unique and wonderful habitat on the face of the earth truly is. Wakeup call to the kewpie-brained folk: Half of all human beings are women, half of all college graduates are women, half of all professionals are women, half of all scientists are women, half of all narrators are women, half of all shorts-wearers are women, half of all swimmers are women, etc. Furthermore, wearing shorts is appropriate since the Galapagos is an equatorial archipelago; wearing a bathing suit is appropriate when swimming (unless you would prefer nudity); exploring lava caves on a volcanic island is appropriate because -- well, it just is, even if you aren't the first person to go there, which the narrator was; exploring the ocean bottom around this unique ecosystem is appropriate when you discover 12 species of amazing creatures previously unknown to humankind; and discussing the theory of evolution is appropriate HERE, if no other place on earth, since the Galapagos are the foundry and showcase of the theory, as anyone with a brain should know! Also, the last time I checked, every other IMAX film has employed a scientist narrator and, rather than having them get technical on the schoolkids or cite textbooks verbatim, it makes the subject matter more accessible when they emote ("This really is amazing") about how their groundbreaking discoveries make them feel. The only persons who would fail to understand all these points must lack a true sense of wonder and empathy (esp. towards women who are not barefoot and pregnant). Science is awe-inspiring, and the more so to people of faith -- when they have not set up a false dichotomy between faith and science, which many believe are two sides of the same coin. The music in this documentary is visceral and inspiring, as I expect and appreciate in all other IMAX films. 4 stars.