Movie Review:
Bugs! A Rainforest Adventure
by Jan Aaron

You may not think of a preying mantis or a caterpillar as movie stars. Well, think again. They are definitely ready for their close-ups in Bugs!: A Rainforest Adventure. This riveting IMAX film and terrific teaching tool takes you inside the lush forests of Borneo. Narrated by Academy-Award winning actress, Dame Judi Dench, the 40-minute film focuses on the amazing complexity of the insect world. With more than 40 tropical insects playing featured parts—some magnified up 250,000 times their size—and other creepy crawlies in cameo roles, including rhinoceros beetles, leaf-cutter ants, a spunky spiny katydid, tarantulas, scorpions, vipers, and millions of Mulu bats. You witness the births of hundreds of praying mantis and see one of them snap up a fly for its snack. My personal favorite was watching a caterpillar hatch from a single tiny egg, munch its way to side splitting dimensions, and later, before my eyes, metamorphose into a gorgeous butterfly.

Directed and co-written by Mike Slee (director of the IMAX films Wildfire: Feel the Heat and Legend of Loch Lomond), who, with his crew, spent six weeks in Borneo's jungles and replicated a corner of the wilds in a UK studio to use for extreme close-ups. To focus on postage stamp-size areas, they built a special 3-ton camera system with a huge assortment of lights. Thus, they can take viewers on a bug's eye view journey through grass, leaves, and sand. #