Nominated for an Academy Award, this 36-minute IMAX production offers a state of the art, computer generated journey through the universe, and tries to pinpoint the role of human beings cohabitating within its vastness. Among the topics included are a variety of the greatest scientific theories known to exist — some of which had never before been visualized on film — as well as a guided tour through the cosmos and solar system, and a look at the nature of black holes and exploding supernovas.

This IMAX offering presents us with not only one but two journeys - one in space (going from the entire universe to quarks) and one in time (going from the first cells to human beings).

These are both monumental enterprises, but unfortunately this half-hour movie can only offer us an inkling of either. It presents some beautiful images, although the journeys themselves lose much in the translation to the TV screen. Only recommended for those who want some relaxation. (Barnes & Noble)

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As a primer on up-to-date scientific theory about the nature of the universe and our place in it, Cosmic Voyage is visually sumptuous and just plain fun. Shot in the mind-blowing IMAX process, this combined live-action and computer-generated production has (even in video format) an immensity of scope befitting its grand subject.

Beginning, lyrically if unexpectedly, in Italy’s magnificent Venice, Cosmic Voyage draws inspiration from airborne perspectives on the city’s famed network of canals and streets, leading to further appreciations of dense systems in nature.

From the subnuclear to the physical limits of the known universe, Cosmic Voyage explores a resonance between all things while making sense of such inscrutable phenomena as the birth of stars and planets, black holes, supernovas, etc. The marvels of cosmology are rarely so accessible as this.

Cosmic Voyage mixes ground-breaking computer animation with cutting edge science to give us a sweeping view of the universe. A “cosmic zoom” extends from the surface of the Earth to the largest observable structures of the universe, and then back down to the sub-nuclear realm - a guided tour across some 42 orders of magnitude. Cosmic Voyage explores some of the greatest scientific theories, many of which have never before been visualized on film. (Amazon)