Living Universe, from directors Alex Barry and Vincent Amouroux, is a documentary following the journey of an imaginary starship 150 years in the future, in a time when it’s predicted we will have the technology to send us to exo-planets around stars that are many light years away.
This documentary is primarily made with CGI, taking us on the 50-year journey to the planet Minerva B.
The starship is controlled by an AI called Artemis (voiced by Professor Tamara Davis), who acts as a co-narrator (with Dr Karl Kruszelnicki), telling us what the starship is doing at all times.
In between the starship sequences, we see snippets of interviews with experts, talking about the science behind the project, and just how excited they were about it in general.
Although the idea of the film is solid, the execution falls short.
The CGI makes up a massive portion of the film, but fails to captivate or hold much interest. The robot sequences are bland, and would have benefitted from being heavily cut down in favour of more interviews.
Also notable is the fairly lacklustre script, which feels like it was written to be voiced by interchangeable narrators depending on what country the film is marketed to.
It doesn’t come close to a Brian Cox project, where you see his face and can feel his raw enthusiasm the whole way through.
It depicts some fun ideas for the future, but Living Universe doesn’t live up to other physics and space documentaries, and is no must-see.
Bill Blake (13)