Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Amazon" is an American 38-minute documentary from almost 20 years ago. The writer and director is Kieth Merrill, an Academy Award winner from a long time ago before he made this short documentary here. And the narrator, Linda Hunt, is also an Oscar winner. Fittingly their collaboration here got in with the Oscars too that year, however, it did not end up winning. About the film itself, it is a decent summary of the Amazon region. We find out about flora, about fauna, about the people who live there and about a couple other aspects related to it. I would not say, it is a must-see for (nature) documentary fans, but it is also by no means a bad film. A bit "by the books" is possibly the best way to describe it. Then again, you can say in the film's favor that this is already fairly old and that there are many newer documentaries coming out that are certainly inferior to Merrill's work here. All in all, it was a good watch and I give it a thumbs-up.

chris stafford The Amazon basin and the mysterious Indian tribes that live within its rainforests are subjects that are very near and dear to me. I studied this a bit in college, and I'm always a sucker for a documentary that purports to have new footage of the Amazon interior.I paid four bucks last night to watch "Amazon" via on-demand cable. It was a huge let-down.Actually, the film footage was actually very impressive. There were the obligatory machu picchu shots, sure, but also some great shots of the "amazon jungle railroad" which I was thrilled to finally see, great shots of the enormous headwater canyons in Peru, and some crazy Indian tribe footage where they had what looked like four foot rafters embedded in their chins. Also there were piranha, white-handed gibbons, pink dolphins, and electric eels. Plus shots of the rain forest canopy, which is not something you see very often. The IMAX team simply got some amazing footage out of this. I can't rate it highly enough - I'm sure it wasn't easy to get either.But the production! I can't believe that somebody didn't put their foot down, and fire the director. The music made me want to watch the thing on "mute". 90 minutes of Synth-Pan-Flute ensembles... ugggh. The story was both retarded and offensive. They tried to make the Medicine Man Indian into some kind of modern explorer or something, but he never had a single intelligent thing to say. The narrator was not the worst part, but she wasn't very good either.I'm just really angry that such amazing footage was ruined by such a stupid script and then completely trashed by *constant* and extremely annoying background music.I hope someday someone buys the rights to this film and repackages it into a good documentary.

p-nut-butter-jelly-time this IMAX was the opitomy of amazing. eye-popping visuals and information, Plotkin gives a detailed description of his line of work. just as fascinating or even better than his book "tales of a shamans apprentice", this IMAX will make you want to visit the amazon and join Mark on one of his expeditions. I thoroughly recommend this to anyone looking for an interesting film to watch and to be wowed again by Mark Plotkin.It's great for the whole family. I can't tell you how many times I've watched it, but every time gives me another reason to go visit South America. Not only is the IMAX great, but the soundtrack also is very soothing.The IMAX contains jaw-dropping scenes such as a baby sleeping on a mammoth lily-pad while staying totally dry.Plotkin has done it again.

Squishie Really dumb depiction of "Medicine Man" type story presented in the IMAX format. The cinematography and subject matter completely miss the mark. A shame because the few compelling scenes, including a native boy swimming with dolphins, are a sideline to the extremely dull plot which focuses on the search for rare medicinal plant species.It seems that the creators got caught up in the need to develop a dramatic storyline and forgot the real purpose of an IMAX showcase, eye popping visuals. The futility of the story itself is evident when the scientist who travels thousands of miles to discover new medicinal species ends up buying his new miracle cure in a market.Ditch the pointless story and the monotonous narration for some more pictures of animals, indigenous people, landscapes and that breathtaking waterfall (which only got about 5 seconds of screentime) and then it would be worthy of an IMAX screen.