The initial liftoff of the Delta (which I'm pretty sure is real footage and not computer-generated) is worth the price of admission by itself... BOOM! And the high-speed trip through the Mars valley is very cool.

The intial lift-off sequence is a combination of real footage and computer animation. IMAX had its cameras at the launch but seamlessly blends their photography with CGI scenes to produce a very dramatic result.

They do the same the same with the scenes shown of Mars, which I think the general public could have benefited from at least once being distinguished (in other words, on their first sight of the rover's view of the surface, I would have had Squyres [who narrates that particular scene] say something alone the lines of "What you are looking at is the real Mars. This is not computer animation but a real photo sent back by Spirit."). But that's a nitpick and its omission does not detract from the film.

What I found most amusing was the way certain actions by the rover elicited a humorous response. For reasons I really can't explain, when Spirit deploys its airbags during descent, I laughed. It was just something about the animation that made the scene appear comedic in theme.

The movie is very impressive and interesting. This is particularly true of the launch sequence. I did not know that the launch sequence was so complicated with so many different rockets turning on and off. After cruising to Mars for seven months the lander plummeted through the atmosphere and bounced to a landing surrounded by large balloons. I had seen these animations on TV before, but seeing them on IMAX made a big difference.

The complexity of both Spirit and Opportunity was apparent as was the endurance capability of these golf-cart size craft, that have functioned years beyond their life expectancy. Even today they are both working on Mars surveying the terrain and sampling the rocks and minerals. At times, the angle of the special-effects camera made the spacecraft appear to be much larger than their actual size.

Actual images from the spacecraft were mixed with recreations of the movements of both Spirit and Opportunity produced by the Disney studios.

At the end of the 35-minute film I was left with two impressions:

1. That the film was too short. I have seen longer reports on Spirit and Opportunity on the Discovery/Science Channel, and
2. That humans will some day land on the Red Planet. The film gave me the impression that the mission, while extremely complicated, was a manageable situation for a human crew. I realize that a manned mission will be many times more complicated and many times more expensive. But now it appears to be a possibility. Mars did not appear to be an "alien planet."

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Originally posted by Astro Bill:
...that the film was too short.

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