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Roving Mars

Play trailer Poster for Roving Mars G Released Jan 27, 2006 40m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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70% Tomatometer 37 Reviews 77% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Earthbound NASA scientists explore the surface of Mars via the transmissions of two robotic rovers named Spirit and Opportunity.
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Roving Mars

Roving Mars

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Critics Consensus

Roving Mars is a decent thrill ride even when it starts feeling like a commercial plug for NASA's failing space program.

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Critics Reviews

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Ethan Gilsdorf Boston Globe Despite audiences knowing the happy ending from the get-go, [director] Butler manages to inject considerable drama. Rated: 3/4 Jan 16, 2009 Full Review Mark Olsen Los Angeles Times Not having a way to capture images of the machines at work means that too much of Butler's film ... is disappointingly made up of computer simulations. Rated: 2.5/5 Aug 18, 2006 Full Review John Monaghan Detroit Free Press Capably accomplishes its mission to Mars by blending solid science with sci-fi eye candy. Rated: 3/4 Jun 16, 2006 Full Review Barbara Shulgasser Common Sense Media NASA sends robots to explore Mars in IMAX docu. Rated: 3/5 May 15, 2020 Full Review Cole Smithey ColeSmithey.com The interaction of two amazing NASA roving robots, named "Spirit" and "Opportunity," with the mysterious terrain of Mars is authentically captured by writer/director George Butler on IMAX cameras. Rated: A Apr 16, 2009 Full Review David Nusair Reel Film Reviews ...has been designed to appeal primarily to viewers with an inherent interest in all things outer space... Rated: 2.5/4 Jan 17, 2009 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Dale R A documentary film released in IMAX about the twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. The story of the film is about the creation, lauch, landing and a few of the first missions of each rover. The most infectious happiness ever is the happiness in a NASA control room after a successful mission. I could watch that all day. This film was released two years into the mission. The mission controllers did not believe that each rover would still be going at this point so the movie had a feeling of incompleteness to it. Spirit would deactivate in 2010 and Opportunity in 2018, so there is a lot of missing story to this film. I’m a bit of a space geek, so I would have loved to hear more in depth explanations of the launch and creative processes in the creation of the rovers. What is in this film is well done and worth a watch if this is an interesting topic for you. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 07/07/24 Full Review Audience Member A documentary film released in IMAX about the twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. The story of the film is about the creation, lauch, landing and a few of the first missions of each rover. The most infectious happiness ever is the happiness in a NASA control room after a successful mission. I could watch that all day. This film was released two years into the mission. The mission controllers did not believe that each rover would still be going at this point so the movie had a feeling of incompleteness to it. Spirit would deactivate in 2010 and Opportunity in 2018, so there is a lot of missing story to this film. I'm a bit of a space geek, so I would have loved to hear more in depth explanations of the launch and creative processes in the creation of the rovers. What is in this film is well done and worth a watch if this is an interesting topic for you. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review s r Informative, but not something you need to see twice. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Great documentary about our quest to explore Mars. With this we are not just limited to grainy images of the surface taken by the rover, but with some tastefully used CGI sequences. Firstly of the voyage there, then the landing, followed by the surface itself. Everything you need to know about this project is there, clear for me to see Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Better than Hubble 3D but was expecting more of an ALIEN experience in this movie Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member A nice flashback to the previous 2 roving explorers on Mars. Not the greatest "doc" on the subject, probably relying heavily on being originally realsed in IMAX, but it was still interesting enough to hold the kids interests for 40 minutes and inspire them to want to learn more about Mars. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Roving Mars

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Earthbound NASA scientists explore the surface of Mars via the transmissions of two robotic rovers named Spirit and Opportunity.
Director
George Butler
Producer
George Butler, Frank Marshall
Screenwriter
George Butler, Robert Andrus
Distributor
Buena Vista
Production Co
White Mountain Films, Kennedy/Marshall, Walt Disney Pictures, Vineyard Productions
Rating
G
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 27, 2006, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA)
$10.4M
Runtime
40m
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