Wild Safari 3D

The IMAX 3-D cameras take us on a jaunt through the underbrush at a series of South African wildlife preserves, where we potter around in an open Jeep looking at elephants, lions, leopards, “rhinos” (I guess writer-director Ben Stassen thought “rhinoceroses” was too hard to say) and cape buffalo. On the excitement scale, this one leans toward ho-hum; most of the animals are photographed through a long telephoto lens from a distance of approximately one light year, with only intervening, out-of-focus foliage to give the illusion of depth. Come to think of it, that may be why we spend so much time in the Jeep—so that driver Liesl Eichenberger at the wheel and trackers Elmon Mhlongo and Morgan Leel perched on the fender can add to the 3-D effect. Chuck Hargrove’s narration isn’t terribly informative.