Growing up in Utah, vacation trips to the mighty Colorado and equally impressive Grand Canyon were "no big deal." It's only been in my adulthood as I've encountered people who have never seen the majesty of the Grand Canyon or experienced the wonder of the "West's Mississippi" that I've finally realized how lucky I was to grow up in a region of such abundant natural spectacles. Unfortunately, as Adventure makes at times perhaps too abundantly clear, the Colorado is a river in decline, hamstrung by dams that have seriously altered its efficacy in both carving the Grand Canyon and also, probably more importantly, providing irrigation water to those downstream, notably in Mexico. The film doesn't shirk from showing absolutely bone dry deltas south of our border where once a raging torrent flowed. It's especially ironic since the two dams that hold back the force of the Colorado were put in place to "water" such desert cityscapes as Las Vegas.

Even that probably well-intentioned effort to provide water for the arid southwest is now reaping fewer and fewer dividends. Adventure has some actually shocking footage showing the decline of manmade Lake Powell through the years. The walls of the lake's "holding tank" bear huge horizontal white lines where the water level once was. That's now a thing of the past as the lake has sunk to a level hundreds of feet lower and shows no signs of stopping. Environmental groups are pushing to have the dams removed so that nature can find its original course again and the river can hopefully reclaim its former glory. That of course begs the question as to what's going to happen to Las Vegas. And of course the larger question, as footage of such faraway drought stricken areas of Africa shows, is, what happens to the rest of us after Las Vegas dries up?

Though the environmental warnings in Adventure are discomfiting, to say the least, the grandeur of the scenery helps to make those warnings all the more urgent while also offering a little visual relief to the direness of the narration. Davis takes us on a tour down the Colorado, with his college-bound daughter and college buddy Robert Kennedy, Jr. and his daughter. Of course Kennedy is famous for his work in restoring rivers (notably the Hudson, though he's frequently been in my neck of the woods to promote cleanup of Oregon's Willamette River), and he offers some personal reminiscences in the changes on the banks of the Colorado in the past 40 years, none of them good.

The film, as in all MFF offerings, has some astoundingly staged shots, including impeccably well handled aerial moments (one especially incredible one starts as a closeup of tourists on the edge of a Canyon bluff, then arcs up slowly, and completely steadily, becoming an awe inspiring view of the miles and miles of Canyon vistas). There are also some excitingly visceral moments filmed from the back of the big inflatable boats that forge through the rapids. Some of this river footage is simply unbelievable, as when Davis' daughter flips her kayak and can't get herself righted for a moment or two, or other moments when whole boats (these are huge craft) are subsumed by the Colorado's torrent for what seems an eternity. The soundtrack has some great Dave Matthews Band songs (mixed beneath the omnipresent water sounds, so you DMB fanatics are forewarned) along with several instrumental outings that are also appealing.

Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk may alienate less environmentally active people with its obviously ecological focus. Even those people, however, will have to try hard not to be impressed by the majesty of both the Canyon and the sections of the Colorado that remain unfettered. For the rest of us, Adventure remains as both a warning cry and an amazing technical achievement that brings one of the United States' crown jewels into your living room theater with an immediacy that is both amazing and surprisingly emotionally engaging.

The Blu-ray

Video:
Adventure's 1.78:1 AVC transfer is a marvel, with the incredible clarity and depth of field that we've all come to expect from IMAX presentations. This is an unbelievably glorious image, with pristine detail, a beautifully diverse palette of colors (some of the water, in various shades of aquamarine and deepest blue, will amaze you), and simply awesome miles-long depth. There's some kind of hokey water CGI in the opening credits, but the rest of this film is one amazing ride, literally and figuratively.

Sound:
Adventure offers plenty of chances for literally immersive sound, and the the DTS HD MA 5.1 mix does not disappoint. You are absolutely surrounded by rushing water noises at times, and the Dave Matthews tunes are similarly well placed with copious use of surround channels. Narration, as it should be, is always front and center with good clarity and balance. I knocked a half star off my rating only because the Matthews tunes are sometimes mixed beneath the raging water noises, making them a bit hard to hear at times. A French DD 5.1 mix is also available. No subtitles are offered.

Extras:
There are bounteous extras offered, most unfortunately in SD or text formats. An HD retrospective of MFF IMAX productions is the most impressive from a visual standpoint. Also on tap is a 30 minute or so "Making Of" featurette, a lamentable "music video" by Wade Davis' daughter (one hopes she's not majoring in music in college), as well as water saving tips by sponsor Kohler and river clean-up tips by sponsor Teva. Text extras include a trivia quiz, and fact sheets on the Colorado and Grand Canyon. The main menu is a bit confusing--the Making Of documentary is a main menu choice, but the rest of the supplements are under "Extras" on the main menu.

Final Thoughts:
Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk proudly continues the McGillivray Freeman Film tradition of outstanding travelogues that also contain important environmental information and an emotional undercurrent that helps bring that information home directly to the viewer. Absolutely awe-inspiring from a visual and aural standpoint, Adventure also hopefully will help to wake up the public at large to a looming water crisis that will affect generations to come if action isn't taken in the next few years to help ameliorate the damage to water supplies worldwide. Highly recommended.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet