SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

2freensel I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Ed Uyeshima If you saw the superb 2007 documentary, "In the Shadow of the Moon", I am not certain what the point would be in viewing this forty-minute 2005 IMAX film - at least if you are old enough to remember the television coverage of the Apollo missions. The former film includes spectacular archival footage of those missions and insightful on-camera interviews with ten of the surviving astronauts. This one is aimed more directly as a motivational film for a youthful audience as it seeks to reignite the pioneering spirit that sparked the first space flights. NASA aficionado Tom Hanks wrote and produced (along with director Mark Cowen) this enthralling if somewhat cursory look at what it took to get to the moon and what it will take to continue the legacy. The film not only recreates some of the actual Apollo lunar missions but also posits what could have happened had disaster struck. The result adds a suspenseful element obviously designed to engage younger viewers.Hanks applies his storytelling skills to full dramatic effect during these fictitious interludes. They are intertwined with a whirlwind of facts presented in a breezy manner, an especially effective tactic in chronicling mankind's fascination with the moon since this film is meant to inspire as well as to educate. To reinforce the approach, there is a series of quick interviews with youngsters that bookend the featurette showing how the space race has completely preceded them and how it could be resuscitated for the next generation of lunar exploration which targets us back on the moon by 2016. A number of famous actors provide the voices of the astronauts - Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Paul Newman - but few are recognizable. The 3-D visual effects are lost on the 2007 DVD, though I think not as much as the elongated dimensions provided by an IMAX theater. Even more than the technical elements, what really brings the film together is Hanks' obvious enthusiasm for the subject. The DVD includes additional video footage and photographs from the Apollo 11 mission plus a trivia game.

msspurlock2 Good flick, but now that the Democrats are in power, you can forget about the space program. They have starved the program at the cost of astronauts' lives, and they have interfered in every aspect. Why do they do this? Because they want to keep us bottled up in cities where they are in control and can suck the life out of us with taxes and fascist laws. So don't look to the sky or dare to dream, because they are going to continue to sabotage efforts to improve mankind at every turn. Cynically, they use the old wheeze that "we should be worrying about problems right here on Earth. They say this at a time when they have make stuff up using junk science, in order to have enough problems for a platform.

Matthew This movie is shockingly short. Granted I did not check the run time before purchasing a ticket, but I expected the movie to be longer.Also, despite excellent effects, amazing pictures (especially when viewed in a IMAX 3D), and excellent narration; the movie did not contain much information. The movie gives more of the feelings behind a journey to the moon, pointing out how something might have gone wrong, that it's a long journey, the people to take the journey were heroes, etc... No actual useful information. This disappointed me as I was expecting something educational.One thing I the movie did provide was less popular comments from less known astronauts from the other Apollo missions.Other than the short length and the lack of educational comment, it was enjoyable to watch. The visual effects are surprising and realistic (at times, because of the 3d effects you feel the sudden urge to dodge something or get out of the way of something coming at you)

george-490 Can't wait for this to be released -- the latest 3D Space IMAX movie. We heard a sneak preview at the National Space Society conference in Washington DC, and it was awesome. Film is produced by Tom Hanks, and helmed by Mark Cowen. The idea is simple: recreate the authentic experience of the Apollo moon astronauts using the 3D IMAX format. They are pulling out all the stops to give the actual sensation of what the Apollo astronauts saw, heard and felt in their voyage to and on the Moon. Authentic imagery, digitally manipulated for the high res Imax experience. Plus sets which recreate the lunar environment down to the little boulders in the pictures. They've got lots of astronaut participation, which is promising. This is really where IMAX is unrivaled -- transporting audiences to an inaccessible place. Highly appropriate for it to come out now, when NASA is planning to start its new Moon program. Until lunar tourism is a reality, this sounds like our best bet. You are go for liftoff!