Nuestro universo 3D

It's a cosmos knockoff aimed at a much younger and/or poorly educated crowd. Very loose explanation of phenomenon. Extreme visuals that are pretty cool but also overly rely on flashing lights. If you have photosensitive seizures this show is going to straight up kill you. Boring narration and poorly written dialogue. "This sea turtle is going to feast on atoms" "Everything this Cheetah eats in the Serengeti is starlight"

Just an utterly boring rip off of cosmos without any of Sagan/Druins flair. The flashing lights made me feel sick and I have never experienced that before. Coming from a guy who can watch hardcore Henry without feeling sick. Anyways... Guess I will keep waiting for a new cosmos from the people who do really love the field instead of this Hollywood mockery.

I really tried to like this as I devour anything vaguely science related. Unfortunately this falls a little flat; and honestly I couldn't even finish it. Mainly it's the narration but as has been said the content, writing, pacing and graphics are sub-par as well. That voice was the antithesis of David Attenborough (who could make anything sound interesting). Was Neil deGrasse Tyson not available? This COULD have been a much better presentation, but as it stands it's mediocre at best. Pick up Cosmos a Spacetime Odyssey with Neil deGrasse Tyson to see the difference. I had believed I was fairly educated until I watched that. Did you know that photons that are created in the center of the sun take 35,000 years to bounce their way to surface (and then obviously 8 minutes 20 seconds to travel from the sun to the earth).

Since buying my first home projector setup back at the start of January 2014 I have been ploughing through IMAX-documentaries both in 2D and 3D. And yes. If you're going to watch IMAX productions at home, you pretty much need as big a screen as your home will allow. Do it right and it truly becomes a breathtaking experience.

OK, why do I bring this up, you might ask? Well. Simply because, if you are like me, an amateur space buff who marvels at these sights and what they suggest. Then this will really make itself feel lacking. I mean, it just isn't up to snuff.

It's not really the fault of the imagery. Or the sound. Both are well adequate. It's more about it's pacing and focus. Mainly its focus, basically. The great IMAX narratives rely heavily of immersing you in the worlds they portray. You feel like an astronaut when watching them repair the Hubble telescope and you marvel at what the strange sights suggest. You feel part of the wilderness. You are part of it.

Our Universe fails miserably at this. Instead of the awe-inspiring stories of planet-formation that I have sort of come to expect, this one feels more like that kid in grade-school that is probably destined to be a great astronomer himself (if he doesn't change his mind through puberty). But hearing him prattle on and on and on about anything and everything without any sense of showmanship, storytelling or narrative timing is just mind-numbing.

And to make matters worse, the things you see and hear about in this production is not in the least bit eye-opening or groundbreaking. This is astronomy 101 for dummies. Probably like the first astronomy session you had in grade-school. About as basic as it gets. While at the same time refusing to stay on one subject until it gets interesting before moving on until it's suddenly just stops.

If you haven't got the singlest clue about the bodies in our universe and you have a 3D home cinema with a giant screen, seek out some IMAX-docus. If you are stuck with smaller screens, then treat yourself to Carl Sagans Cosmos. Because, if I'm honest. Our Universe just doesn't give its subject-matter the respect it has earned.

OUR UNIVERSE 3D

The Narrator's voice that often has no break from one segment to the next seems to match the continuous flow of the 3D modeling of planets which are quite realistic, giving a sense of how much is packed into this compact special.

In this 50 minute visual tour of the solar system and beyond made in 2013, every major part of our solar system is shown from space and the surface, including major moons and Pluto in its icy Kuiper belt, showing main features, some animated, while explaining facts you may know and some you don't. It seems Mars uses actual photos taken from the surface, made 3D.

The unending variety of computer animation is of course not photo real, but pretty good and gets close sometimes, particularly close views of planets from space that fill much of the screen. Yet in modern fashion, it's all in no particular order, as if to increase variety.

More inspiring are what appear to be actual photos of deep space, given 3D treatment. Nebulas that start to appear after a few planets, and later galaxies.

I think there are more even than in IMAX: Hubble 3D, which were overseen by scientists to be accurate in the 3D. The ones in Our Universe appear as good, maybe ones left out.

There is more packed into this 50 minutes than you'd think, so seems longer or more filling than many a feature movie in a sense. Rarely a dull or wasted moment - forgiving the slightly dusty or goofy made-up rover on some planets, like a 6-wheeled solar beetle whose two eyes on top of its square head seem a little too human.

I finished not wishing they had done one thing more or that they had missed anything, and is pretty up to date, with nothing complicated. Except again being overwhelmed by the ridiculous size of infinity, myself in the middle, and the amount of incomprehensible galaxies.

Right from the start of "Our universe" I knew it was going to be bad.

The speed edited voice over spoken in a monotonous weird droning tone had my spider sense tingling. Something wasn't right here. 15 minutes in I wanted to hit stop & eject.

No information regarding the UNIVERSE instead I was being treated to Our Solar System for 11 year olds! Once I'd figured out I been conned by the misleading Our Universe title & my anger had subsided enough I continued to watch hoping to gleam some new insights into our Solar System.

I watched to the end.... I was crushed.

"Our Universe" is Bland, unengaging, boring, uninteresting, average graphics, no real new information, poorly presented at times confusing documentary destined for the bin.

Do yourself a huge favour & watch any or all of the documentaries below instead.

Nova - Fabric of the Cosmos, Stephen Hawking - Grand Design, BBC - Wonders of the Universe, BBC - Seven Ages of Starlight, Science - Through the Wormhole, National Graphic - Inside The Milky Way, National Graphic - Journey To The Edge of the Universe, IMAX - Hubble, IMAX - Cosmic Voyage