| Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D |  | Director: Mark Cowen
Actors: Tom Hanks, Brandy Blackledge, Gary Hershberger, Andrew Husmann, Aaron White (vii)
Category: DVD
This item is no longer available
Rating:  25 reviews
Format: Ntsc
Rating: Unrated
ASIN: B00005JONR
Theatrical Release Date: September 23, 2005
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Amazon.com
Tom Hanks continues his love affair with space that began with Apollo 13 and his miniseries From Earth to the Moon with this compelling IMAX adventure, Magnificent Desolation. Fans of space fact and fantasy will not want to miss this engaging docudrama, which combines actual footage of lunar walks and interviews of the few men who've trod there with dramatizations of scenarios both exciting and terrifying. The true way to experience this film, of course, is in its IMAX splendor, but home-theater buffs won't be disappointed. The footage takes the "lunar visitor" along moon's craters and potholes, with nothing but the vastness of space all around. Unseen film shows close-ups of terrain as well as technical infrastructure that may well be models for future moon-living. One particularly scary scene thankfully has never happened on a moon mission, and involves the sudden loss of breathing apparatus. Scuba divers will recognize the "buddy system" of sharing a single air source--and viewers with any kind of claustrophobic issues may want to fast-forward. But overall, the thrills of space travel are made as real as possible for us mere mortals who will only experience it from our comfy chairs. Roger that.--A.T. Hurley
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 Reaching the Moon and Functioning on its Surface June 21, 2009
Jan Peczkis (Chicago IL, USA)
This production makes it obvious how the lunar landings of 35-40 years ago have been largely forgotten. Schoolchildren asked about them know very little.
Six pairs of Americans trod the lunar surface. The challenges of moving about the moon's surface include a lack of perspective. Owing to the lack of perspective-giving familiar objects (e. g., trees); it is difficult to judge sizes and distances. (Also, the lack of atmosphere and the haze it imposes on distant objects makes distant objects on the lunar surface seem much closer than they really are).
Perhaps the most valuable feature of this documentary is the recording of the voices of different astronauts (not only Neil Armstrong and his famous "Small Step for Man" statement) as they walked on the moon. There is also a little satire of those who deny the fact of the lunar landings.
One unique feature of this documentary is the procedure for dealing with an emergency on the surface of the moon--which fortunately never happened. The astronauts' rover crashes, and both it and its communication system are disabled. The astronauts switch to a backup radio system, connect the oxygen hoses to each other, and hike back to the lunar module with only a few minutes' oxygen to spare.
 Not at all what we expected. June 17, 2009
R. VanEpps (Ann Arbor, MI USA)
Bought this for my husband, he had heard about it years ago in IMAX but never got to go see it. We were both pretty excited to see it but that changed after 10 min into the movie.. Most of it isn't any new footage, a lot of children were interviewed throughout the ENTIRE movie, asking them questions about what it means to them to be an astronaut, or what they think it's like on the moon, etc.. It wasn't at all what we expected. Not worth the money, buy something else..
A Combination Apollo Documentary And Motivational Film May 17, 2009
Robert I. Hedges
I first saw "Magnificent Desolation" in IMAX 3-D, and was extremely impressed with the documentary portions of the film, and most especially the look at the extremely challenging Apollo 15 mission. I admire Tom Hanks for bringing his passion for human spaceflight to mass audiences with his various projects; this is a gift of slightly altered character compared to his other works in the genre.
There are some brief shots of real astronauts, but most of this is well acted by excellent actors (Morgan Freeman and numerous other big names do astronaut voiceovers as well) and the effects are generated by CGI. I am not criticizing the choice of CGI, and am in fact a huge fan of it in this instance as the lunar surface effects are wonderful (and of course are truly breathtaking in IMAX 3-D.)
Like many IMAX features, this one is brief (just under 40 minutes), which is a bit of a drawback as the subject is so immense, it's impossible to tell the complete story in such a short time. The other drawback was the unfortunate choice of a conclusion, which was intended to be motivational to children, but is actually pretty lame. I don't know if it motivated kids or not, but I do know that it wasn't a fitting ending to a movie with such a sublime subject.
Despite the nitpicks, I recommend "Magnificent Desolation" to any space or science enthusiasts (it is especially suitable for a younger audience.) If at all possible see it in IMAX 3-D, but if that's not feasible, the DVD is still quite worthwhile.
 Good, but "In the Shadow of The Moon" was much better April 1, 2009
S. Crouch (Tuggeranong, A.C.T. Australia)
I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed with this one. The photography and effects are spectacular, which is what you would expect from an IMAX film anyway, but it falls down pretty badly as a historical document of the Apollo program. In the Shadow of the Moon was just so much better in this regard. I think the mission of this movie was more to inspire the younger generation and it certainly deserves to be praised if it succeeds in this aim. Obviously I'm not in the target audience.
Part of the problem I guess is that the 40 minutes of an IMAX documentary just isn't long enough to give the subject proper treatment. "Fragmented" is probably an adequate one word description of this movie. Having said that, I did enjoy some of the sequences though, with the spectacular Apollo 15 landing being the best part in my view.
The DVD extras are nothing to write home about, being mainly just a collection of Apollo mission photographs. Once again, In the Shadow of the Moon provided much more.
I think this is still worth three stars though. One has to respect Tom Hanks for the work he does in promoting human spaceflight.
Magnificent Desolation - Walking on the Moon (IMAX) (2005)-Beautiful Film March 28, 2009
Keith Mirenberg (www.spaceanimations.org)
Magnificent Desolation - Walking on the Moon (IMAX) (2005) Starring: Tom Hanks, John Corbett: was an exceptionally fine IMAX film production which I rate at four stars. Made for IMAX using a skillful combination of computer animation, live actors and sets offered a very credible simulation of the missions on the lunar surface. As such, it was totally unhampered by poor quality on location film so typical of the 60's and 70's, but still offered snippets of actual NASA footage and audio transmissions recorded during the Apollo Program.
Although the 40 minute film was too short to satisfy my ravenous taste for space documentaries, the current price of under $15.00 from Amazon makes this movie a good buy. The LA Times comment on this move was "Enthralling", while the NY Daily News stated it was "Inspirational". When this level of effort is made to produce a realistic representation of the true scope and grandeur of our Apollo Moon Program it is bound to produce the kind of emotional and objective reactions I read in Amazon reviews. All space enthusiasts and historians are advised to purchase this film for their collection. The NY Post also said that this film was "Patriotic", which being a product made with the help of Tom Hanks does not surprise me. It was indeed, patriotic and scientifically accurate.
One comment made by Commander Allan Shepard played for the audience while he stepped onto the lunar surface (and I paraphrase) was "We are here at last". I think this little repeated comment was a reference to the countries first group of seven Mercury astronauts finally reaching the Moon as represented by Commander Sheppard, America's first man to fly in space on May 5, 1961. Lots of additional historical material has been provided as well.
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