To the Limit

"We are all, child or champion, in search of our limits." This 1989 IMAX documentary celebrates the human body in motion, focusing on Bolshoi ballerina Nina Ananiashvili, cliff climber Tony Yaniro, and Olympic downhill skier Maria Walliser. Employing endoscopic photography, To the Limit explores the interior of our bodies, showing how blood, muscles, nerves, joints, hormones, and the brain all work together in moments of stress and exertion to create the "inner dance of life." Narrated by the late, great Richard Kiley, the scientific information presented in this dated production is rather skimpy, essentially an excuse for some spectacular footage of mountain climbing and downhill ski racing featuring razor-sharp cinematography combined with the pulsing music and sound effects. One of three new-to-DVD IMAX films released in a double-disc package that includes a second disc in the Microsoft Windows Media High-Definition video format, playable on Windows XP PCs, this is one of the weaker entries in the Macillivray-Freeman Films IMAX series. Optional. [Note: the other two newly available IMAX titles on DVD are the 1997 Oscar-nominated Amazon and 1984's Speed.] Aud: H, P. (S. Rees)