MOVIE NEWS: Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk

Editor’s note: we interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for a word from OWL’s new assistant editor, Kendra Brown. (More on that next week! Also, Craig will be back soon.) Enjoy!

Last Thursday I took a trip out to the Ontario Science Centre to check out a new IMAX movie, Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk. And what an adventure it was. And no, not my transit journey — the movie, people!

Fresh water shortage is worldwide, and the Colorado River is a perfect example of just how serious this issue is. More than 25 million people in the U.S. and Mexico depend on the Colorado River. They use it in their homes, for their crops and for generating hydroelectric power in their communities. But this river is at its lowest levels in 85 years.

So environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and anthropologist Wade Davis take their daughters, Kick and Tara, on a journey along the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon to learn, discover, and go on one awesome adventure!

Here are a few observations about the movie:

1) The Grand Canyon is, well, grand. To call it big or huge or massive just doesn’t cut it. I mean, you can see it from space! The Colorado River that runs through the Canyon is also impressive, and the film did an amazing job of showing just how powerful it can be.

2) River rafting on the Colorado River is wild. These scenes were awesome and made me feel like I was right in the raft! The waves, the splashing, the crashing, the rush of adrenaline, the seasickness… oh yeah, that. But all in good fun, right? You bet. And for a good cause, which brings me to my final observation…

3) It made me want to do my part. The Canyon’s Lake Powell has already lost more than half its water! Luckily, the end of the film gives you tips to help save water. For instance, I’m going to save more than 750 gallons of water this year just by cutting down my shower every day by one minute. For more tips, check out their website.

I was a big fan of this movie (seasickness and all). Mostly because it really was like going on a Grand Canyon adventure. It’s full of important facts about the world’s growing fresh water shortage, but it’s also action packed, which you might not expect from a movie about global water issues.

Go see it if you can! It just opened at the Ontario Science Centre, but it’s playing at theatres across Canada and the U.S.

Kendra, owlblog@owlkids.com