IMAX: HUBBLE

The crowd-pleasing documentary IMAX: Hubble (initially 3D in theaters) follows the Space Shuttle Atlantis on its May 2009 mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

Like all IMAX films, IMAX: Hubble is intended for the biggest of big screens. When it incorporates original TV footage, for instance, it shows it as a small square in the middle of the screen. If you are in a movie theater with three stories of projected image in front of you, this is fine. However, moments like this in the film do not translate all that well to your home TV, no matter how big of a screen setup you have.

Luckily, most of the images in the film were intended for IMAX (and in the case of its theatrical run, was meant to be watched in 3D). Even viewing IMAX: Hubble in the comfort of your living room, you can make your windows rattle by cranking up the impressive, up-close launch footage of Atlantis taking off at Cape Canaveral. Thankfully, during the entire launch sequence of the film, narrator Leonardo DiCaprio keeps his mouth shut and lets the amazing images speak for themselves.

Using animation and images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the film is at its mind-boggling best as we are taken deep into space, for instance into the stars of Orion's belt and the clouds of Orion Nebula, where we see solar system "tadpoles" and "baby stars". The candid, casual interviews with the astronauts of Atlantis are also fun... though relatively brief when you imagine the limitations of IMAX film (they have a limited amount of filming time in the camera for the whole flight).

There is a nice tension as the astronauts work hours upon hours doing spacewalk repairs on the telescope, a process so challenging and intricate that it is "like performing brain surgery using oven mitts". At one point, you see an astronaut yank a metal bar off of the telescope as an impromptu solution to a problem (you can't help but think, "Is that a good idea??!?!").

Overall, IMAX: Hubble is a nice introduction to space and the soon-to-be-retired Space Shuttle program. The images are as glorious as DiCaprio's distracting narration is heavy-handed. This is one of those films that should be seen on as big a screen as possible, however, even on your small home-theater TV, it is an enjoyable introduction to an amazing view of our planet and universe that very few of us will ever get to experience.

DVD NOTES

Inside IMAX: Hubble 3D offers a behind-the-scenes scoop on the special difficulties and limitations the crew and astronauts had in filming in IMAX.