Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk

The winding Colorado River presents a worthy 3-D subject for producer/director Greg MacGillivray ("Coral Reef Adventure") to splash across IMAX screens in the interest of alerting the public to the river's devastating loss of water and wildlife. With a historically-based narrative delivered in voice-over by Robert Redford, the documentary follows a river-rafting expedition that includes Robert Kennedy Jr. and his daughter Kick, author/photographer Wade Davis with his daughter Tara, and Shana Watahomigie a Native American river guide. The rafting adventure gains familial resonance due to Robert Kennedy Jr.'s experience when he was 12, when his father took him on a similar trip down the river. Although muddled at times from its cross-purpose agendas of trumpeting conservation and establishing a story arc that never quite congeals, "Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk" is a lush look at a journey that few people will ever experience except vicariously through this film. It certainly achieves its stated purpose of emphasizing the dire need for great water conservation in all aspects of our daily lives.

Rated G. 43 mins. (B-) (Three Stars)