The now ubiquitous Professor Robert Winston became a household commodity when he narrated The Human Body, the show that literally took viewers into parts that others could not reach. Where else could you see inside a full stomach or watch blood cells flowing in arteries? These were amazing images to medics and the viewing public alike.

Now the “incredible story of life” is back “on a screen the height of five double decker buses.” Yes, The Human Body has now made it to the massive IMAX format and, it has to be said, the result is quite impressive.

This release represents the end of a three year collaboration between the BBC, the Science Museum in London, Discovery Pictures, and the Learning Channel, all funded by the National Science Foundation in the United States. The large format version is in fact a whole new 45 minute film with no footage used from the original TV series, although Winston (voice only) returns as the narrator.

The film focuses on a family unit of four as the “day in the life of” subjects. We are introduced to Heather, the pregnant mother to be, who will be followed through to the baby's birth at the end of the film. The day starts early on a weekday morning in what seems to be a genteel Oxfordshire town (“London” as the family calls it). Things are a bit slow getting going, however, and it's not until everyone is well on their way to school or work that it gets down to the nitty-gritty of what's going on inside the body.

That said, once we start looking inside the people the visuals are stunning. Some of the most advanced techniques available have been used to generate the detailed three dimensional animations and images on the grand scale offered by IMAX. It's a radiology fan's dream, even though there is some clear use of computer generated images to spruce things up.

Seeing the currents of hot air radiating away from someone's body, filmed using a special form of thermal imaging, to cool them down after they have cycled to school was fascinating. However, this paled as a seven storey high skeleton of a baby came crawling out of the screen towards the audience.

In combination with a loud digitally reproduced soundtrack the overall effect is imposing and enthralling. The spectacle does, however, reach a premature climax when, at around the 30 minute mark, the audience is taken on a tour of the beating heart, the body's “engine”; the roaring blood flow is deafening, the slamming shut of the valves pounding. When this is combined with the almost violent visuals of the aortic valve turbulently opening and closing, the experience is breathtaking.

That, however, is representative of what is debatably this production's one weakness. It seems to be much more about spectacle than education; there are plenty of amazing things to be seen and many fascinating statistics, soothingly spoken in Winston's dulcet tones, to be learnt, but the film never really delves into mechanisms or processes in any great detail. But then, would the public really want a crash course in physiology? The Human Body—IMAX opened in London, at the Science Museum, last month. It will be showing in IMAX theatres around Britain (see below) and is expected to run for at least a year. Go see it. You may not learn that much but you will enjoy it. The spectacle is . . . well, spectacular.

The Human Body—IMAX will be showing at the Science Museum, London; the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford; Glasgow Science Centre; UCI Printworks, Manchester; @Bristol; IMAX Theatre at Millenium Point, Birmingham

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