Australia: Land Beyond Time Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Australia: Land Beyond Time Blu-ray Movie Review

“In this land beyond time, life has learned to ride out the hard times, and flourish in the good times.”

Reviewed by Dustin Somner June 8, 2009

Growing up in Oregon, I remember glowing with delight every time I was given the opportunity to visit the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). Featuring rotating exhibits of headliners such as Star Wars, Dinosaurs, or LEGO’s, the experience always felt fresh regardless of how many times I visited the museum. As I grew older, OMSI added our only local IMAX screen to their list of wonders and provided a new visual experience for the following generations. I can’t say my initial experience in IMAX was everything I’d hoped for (after all, it wasn’t like they were showing Star Wars in IMAX), but the scope of the productions were certainly impressive, and there was something inherently wonderous about sitting inside a large dome with giant scenes of nature projected all around me.

Now that I’m “grown up” with a home theater of my own, I have the opportunity to go back and visit many of the IMAX productions I’d missed over the years. It may not rival the feel of the original dome, or the enthusiasm of a crowded auditorium, but sitting down to soak up the raw beauty of nature is a thrilling experience in high-definition and Blu-ray is likely the closest we’ll come to reproducing the original experience from the comfort of our favorite recliner.

Large claws on a teddy bear is just one of nature's many ironies.

Australia: Land Beyond Time offers an abbreviated glimpse at the history and present layout of the Australian landscape. Standing as the worlds largest island, and surrounded by three different oceans, the continent is known for it’s flat landscape and arid climate. The primary focus of the documentary centers on the harsh conditions facing animals and vegetation, and how those species have evolved to exist in a place most would consider uninhabitable. Naturally, kangaroo’s and koala’s are given a substantial amount of screen time, but the film also spans a wide variety of wildlife that individually aquired their own set of unique skills or traits. Considering the terrain of Australia is classified as one-third desert and two-thirds arid flatland, the film contains a beautiful array of scenic shots that encompass the desolate sand dune waves to the lush rainforest of the east coast mountains. From scene to scene, there’s always something lovely to behold and the filmmakers did a wonderful job capturing the majesty of Australia.

Simply from a photography standpoint, the documentary is a profound experience. I can’t say Australia has ever been on the list of places I’d like to visit in my lifetime, but I also never took the time to appreciate what the continent may have to offer. Having said that, my opinion hasn’t changed (there’s simply far too many destinations I want to see in the world), but at least I have a better grasp on what can be expected from the climate and environment of Australia. This is the first and only film by director David Flatman, but he shows a level of talent in this production that is often absent from amateur documentary filmmaking. He understands the limitations of a 40 minute runtime, and clearly identifies the goal of the shots and narration to create an engaging experience that leaves the viewer begging for more. I’ve seen a number of documentaries that had me checking my watch after the first 10 minutes, but this is thankfully not one of them.

It’s not an easy task to pinpoint my favorite sequences from the film, so I’ll simply mention some of the memorable ones. According to the narration by Alex Scott, a torrential monsoon occurs throughout the heartland of Australia about twice every century. This natural event has a profound impact on the landscape, with life growing exponentially before our eyes. Flatman and his crew were lucky enough to capture this natural occurrence, which encompasses almost the entire second half of the documentary. The first half provides a front-row glimpse at ants that store sap within their own vessel-like bodies (for later consumption), kangaroos that are capable of stalling the production of a fetus according to climate conditions, and the Australian dingo, which feeds off the rodents and lizards of the Outback. Whether you’re interested in vegetation, prehistoric lizards, cute mammals, or underwater life, Australia: Land Beyond Time has something for everyone.

Australia: Land Beyond Time Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in 1080p utilizing the MPEG-2 codec (at an average bitrate of 40Mbps), Australia: Land Beyond Time offers an impressive visual experience. There's nothing worse than watching a nature documentary that doesn't accurately reflect the beauty of the great outdoors, but this transfer does a wonderful job conveying every last detail in the landscape. There are still several scenes that don't fair quite as well as the rest of the feature, but those rare instances appear to be related to a lack of focus in the original photography and not a deficiency in the transfer. Considering the majority of Australia is somewhat arid and desolate, you'd expect the color spectrum to be dominated by red, brown and yellow hues. Thankfully, the visuals are not merely limited to shots of the barren landscape, but also encompass the rich blues of the sky (which provides a lovely backdrop for one scene with dozens of white birds flying overhead) and the lush greens of the sparse foliage. Continuing the trend of strengths, black levels and contrast are handled appropriately, but never given much of a workout considering 100% of the documentary takes place during the daytime.

If there were two minor complaints I have about the transfer, it would be the slight presence of artifacting in a couple of shots, and some up/down bouncing or jittering of the camera from time to time (likely caused by the cameraman during the original filming). Taken as a whole, IMAX fans should be very happy with the visual results on this Blu-ray, but shouldn't expect a reference quality transfer.

Australia: Land Beyond Time Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The English Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is surprisingly good for a lossy audio track. From the atmospheric tones of water trickling down a stream, to the rushing torrent as it cascades over a 200 foot high waterfall, the mix is efficient in accurately recreating a wide range of sounds. Surround use isn't extensive, but there's still sufficient use of the rear sound field to elevate this track above the typical front-heavy nature documentary. On the downside, I was left with the impression the audio track could have been better defined and a bit more robust. The music that plays in the background never manages to attain the depth and clarity I'd hoped for and has a tendency to stay far too quiet in comparison with the narration. Overall, the audio track is a pleasing experience that nicely complements the visuals, but I felt a step up to lossless audio could have released the full potential of the source material.

Australia: Land Beyond Time Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Although all three special features are encoded in 1080p, they are clearly taken from a (4:3) standard definition source, and don't begin to resemble a high-definition picture.

B-Roll (2:25 min): I'm assuming this collection of footage never made it into the final product, though there were several scenes that looked similar to shots from the film. If this were in high definition, I'd consider it a worthy addition.

Director's Commentary (2:27 min): This is a strange inclusion on the disc, since the information provided is also included in the featurette that follows. In a strange move, the segment comes to a sudden halt at the 2:27 mark (with the director almost in mid-sentence).

Making of Featurette (21:52 min): Director David Flatman provides viewers with an in-depth discussion of the themes he intended to convey in the film, the IMAX photography process (including a special plane they built specifically for the aerial footage), and the musical track recorded for the film. Considering the short runtime of the actual documentary, this supplement includes a surprising amount of information.

Australia: Land Beyond Time Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you'd consider yourself a fan of nature documentaries and you have any interest in the Australian Outback, this Blu-ray edition is a worthy investment. As with most IMAX films, the greatest detriment is it's brief runtime, but if you can overlook that one flaw, you'll have a film that holds up well in multiple viewings, and provides a nice balance between entertainment and education.