I find most IMAX-specific films to be boring, pedestrian, and not very challenging. The visuals are great but the filmmaker often spoon feeds the viewer into understanding what is being shown. You don't get challenged and you don't have to think.

Not so with this film. Terrence Malick is a filmmaker who pushes the boundaries of cinematic storytelling. Because I was seeing the Director's Cut of this IMAX feature (that doesn't include Brad Pitt's narration) I wasn't sure how much Malick would concede to an audience who wants a thrill ride not a serious feature. I'm happy to report that he doesn't make any trade-offs with this excursion.

The film captures all about the evolution of life, the passage of time, and our minuscule and fragile participation in this enormous universe. By weaving jaw dropping visuals of the birth of our solar system and the constant push for life to continue to survive, Malick challenges the viewer to define their place within it. He juxtaposes these visions of birth and death with a small girl walking within a field. His point? That we got where we are by all the things that have gone on before us. And yet, he brilliantly shows us how our current selves are not entirely unique, we share the same needs (food),the same ego (leaving hand prints on rocks),and the same joys of family (laughing with children) as our ancestors from thousands of years ago. We do not live amongst nature, we are a part of it.

To those who decry that it is "boring" I suggest that when watching a Terrence Malick film you need to pay attention. Don't settle on being a passive observer, engage with the film. If you do, you will experience tremendous riches.

Nothing new, visually or otherwise. It's not even boring, it's just plain dull and unengaging. Watched it on MUBI and the best they could do apparently was 1080p, so I got to see all the artefacts and downsampling that just rendered it practically unwatchable. Just watch BBC's Planet Earth or Cosmos instead.

Not short enough to be a short and not long enough to be a feature, Terrence Malick's "Voyage of Time", (subtitled, 'The IMAX Experience' to give you an idea what kind of screen you should see it on),is like an extended sequence from "The Tree of Life" or outtakes from "2001; A Space Odyssey" and is visually superb as we might expect from Malick but it's hardly informative and even at 46 minutes is just as likely to bore as to enthrall.

Brad Pitt is the narrator who asks us do we ever wonder where we came from when we look at the stars or when did dust become life. Malick doesn't tell us and you will almost certainly get more information from a David Attenborough documentary than from this. That said, it looks amazing in ways that even Attenborough can't match and to Malick's credit he does ponder 'big' questions as if the asking itself is enough to satisfy the lack of an answer and anyone remotely interested in the visual power of cinema won't want to miss it and yes, see it on the biggest screen possible. There's also a 90 minute version, narrated by Cate Blanchet, and still awaiting a release.