IMAX – Horses: The Story Of Equus (2002/Warner DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: B-
Michael
Caulfield’s IMAX – Horses: The Story Of
Equus (2002) is his second large-frame format look at animals after Africa’s Elephant Kingdom (1998) and a
successful one that tells the story of how the popular animal was saved from
extinction and has helped to build the world ever since. Narrated by Gabriel Byrne, the film runs
about 45 minutes and follows the lives of three horses born around the same
time to see what becomes of them as a larger tale is told.
Though
animal rights purists will feel the animals should not be used for labor,
racing or anything else, it is a testament to how amazing horses are and shows
them looking as good as they have in any film in a while. If anything, it re-reminds us what a powerful
force of nature they are and how much we owe them, even with all the latest
technology we have. Fans of the animal
or IMAX will enjoy this solid installment.
The letterboxed
1.78 X 1 image is clean, but a little soft and it makes no sense why this is
not anamorphically enhanced or being issued on Blu-ray at the same time. Director of Photography Tom Cowan (who lensed
the Elephant film and Solarmax) did another fine job here and
his work deserves better than this budget treatment, which can also be said of
the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, which is not bad and has some Pro Logic
surrounds, but this is not acceptable considering this is a multi-channel sound
film. This should have been DTS 5.1 at
least. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
