Search - IMAX Presents: Australia - Land Beyond Time on DVD

"A Vast, Ancient, Weathered Land"

Alejandra Vernon | Long Beach, California | 09/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Extraordinary panoramic vistas, taken from a 2-engine plane with a camera attached to its nose, amazing geological facts, and marvelous animals, most of them unique to Australia, are what we get in this superb documentary of what is both the world's smallest continent, and its largest island. Once joined to Antarctica many millions of years ago, with high mountains and lush forests, time transformed Australia into 3 million square miles of mostly arid flat land, and its creatures adapted to the different weather conditions. Fabulous and often amusing footage of kangaroos and koalas (both share the same ancestral marsupial possum), as well as desert creatures from ants to the giant and fearsome parenti lizard, and the "living contradiction," the platypus, are among the many delights shown in this film.



An event that only occurs approximately twice every century, torrential rains filling the Outback's Lake Eyre, bringing long dormant animals to life, as well as flocks of pelicans, is caught on film, and is a spectacular sight. This is a glorious but harsh land, with a strange beauty that fills the soul. Australia is described as being more like another planet than another country, and this documentary has many images rarely seen.



Directed by David Flatman, written by Flatman, Meg Morrison, and poet Les Murray, it is narrated by Alex Scott, and has a lovely score by David Bridie. Made for IMAX in 2002, every aspect of "Australia, Land Beyond Time" is excellent, is a must for anyone interested in this great country, and those of us who like to explore foreign lands without leaving home.

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Incredible Let Down

Mr. Pizza | 11/27/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Australia: Land Beyond Time (IMAX) [Blu-ray]



Only 45 minutes of video, not the advertised 75 minutes. I guess they took into account the "B Roll" stuff, which did not look like it was filmed in HD. The production was quite bad as well. Look at desert, look at kangaroos, look at desert, look at more kangaroos. No cities, just outback, a few more animals, and a brief lesson on continental drift and quite repetitive concerning...kangaroos. Don't waste your money in my opinion."

The BEST Imax movie I have seen since "The Dream is alive"

Aaronlind | Denver, CO | 10/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am so impressed with this movie. The production is truly amazing. I feel like I traveled to Australia for 1 1/2 hrs and flew over that vast land of natural wonders. I loved the Kangoroo and Koala scenes as well as the underwater scenes. The film succeeds in almost every aspect, including its sound effects and truly delightful music score. As opposed to other IMAX films that use cheap background music or music by classic rock bands, here we get a one-of-a kind music score performed by an orchestra that blends with the images really well. The narrative script provides a lot of information while keeping the viewer entertained (like the Kangoroo kickboxing scene) Also, the picture quality was amazing! At times I wondered if I was watching a plain DVD or some sort of high definition video!!"

Ok, not as good as expected

D. Krepak | 11/19/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I expected more video of some of the scenic areas in Australia. This DVD focuses on the animals in Australia and the terrain. I was hoping it would include something on the Great Barrier Reef but it didn't. The video was good quality and the narration was informative."