"Amazing Caves" is not an exciting enough title
for a sometimes breathtaking, sometimes wondrous
audiovisual experience.
The filmmakers take full advantage of this
sensational medium to carry us with them to places
God knows we'd never go ourselves: winding through
the canyons in the Arizona desert, submerged underground, underwater, or
dropping through huge ice crevices - climbing,
paddling and swimming into mysterious, elusive holes
in the Earth.
Though the production pays due attention to
education, the beauty and adventure of these journeys
are gladly the main focus. Splendid visuals are
backed up with warm fertile moody tunes from 60's
rock band the Moody Blues. The band reworks (and
improves) old favorites for the score, enjoying the
grand performance of Large Format audio.
Like exploring a hole itself, the film takes an
excursion from the familiar beaten path of
documentary format in favor of finding something
spiritual to bring home in the specimen jar. Sweetly
done.
"The most dangerous part of caving ... is just
getting to them."
Cavers take to kayaks and drop down a 12-foot
waterfall - your heart and jaw will drop with them. A
copter'd cam scraps the pastel canyon walls over a
limestone turquoise blue river - gorgeous (no pun
intended).
Later in an underwater cave, divers squirm through
holes no larger than a pizza. The screen is huge, but
a fantastic feeling of claustrophobia squeezes it to
within an inch of a gasp. How did they get that huge
camera through?
My only suggestions lie within the realm of
education. I wouldn't change a single edit on the
current production, but might have added graphic
overlays to back up some of the narrative. Liam
Neeson's tongue gives appropriate potency to the
voice-over; but several times technical phrases could
have been illustrated in one corner of that huge
screen by a chart, diagram or animation, while the
big adventure continued. Such overlays would serve to
make the production so rich with information viewers
will want to see it twice or three times.
Nine years in the making, "Amazing Caves" was well
worth the effort. I'd have chosen a better title
though ... perhaps: "Caving in", "Climbing into the
Earth", "Climbing into Ice, Rock and Water", or my
personal favorite: "Spelunk!"
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