Roving Mars


Mars: Planet Mars

Mars: Planet Mars
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Bonus Review #9
Film: Roving Mars [G] 45 minutes
WIP: $10.00
When 1st Seen: 23 February 2006
Where Viewed: United Artists Colorado Center 9 & IMAX, Denver, CO
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Review Dedicated to: Ricky T. and Val T. of Firestone, CO


Roving Mars is basically one big advertisement for NASA engineers. Our nation is in crisis when it comes to the number of scientists we are educating in the USA. Schools are doing a terrible job with science education—not that the teachers aren’t trying—with enormous class sizes, small budgets, and some teachers without access and support to get the proper training to do the job they really want to be able to do well. It is difficult to imagine how NASA will survive if the University of Illinois, for example, is graduating fewer engineering and physics majors each year than the year before leading to dwindling numbers. Hence, we get Roving Mars in IMAX® no less. This movie tells the tale of the creation of Spirit and Opportunity, two rovers designed to seek out proof of the existence of water on Mars, and their journey from drawing board to landing on the Red Planet. Honestly, this film is fun and the recreated footage a rush of pure adrenalin. I enjoyed it, and I think it might actually be able to convince some kids to consider careers in science to be a part of one of these exhilarating experiences like launching a probe to a distant planet. My only qualm was that I really didn’t think the movie took very much advantage of the IMAX® technology to deliver really powerful, huge, compelling sights and sounds. In that area, it was a bit run of the mill. Still, the movie is worth tracking down. You will find yourself cheering on the rocket scientists and the little rover robots as if they were human beings (jab at scientists intended given that I am a bio chem double major myself). The movie is inspirational in showing the potential for human innovation, invention, inspiration, and intelligence.

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