'The Greatest' show of Earth

Iguazu Falls in South America is one of the scenic wonders spotlighted in Mal Wolfe's 1998 documentary, ''The Greatest Places.'' (Science Museum of Minnesota)

Given the price of fuel these days, "The Greatest Places" is at minimum one of the cheapest ways to hop around the planet, stopping for brief interludes with exotic wildlife, crashing waterfalls, towering icebergs, and pristine desert sands.

But this 10-year-old documentary directed by Mal Wolfe is also a trip back in time, and when reviewed by today's standards its simplistic, hurried presentation of seven remote natural wonders can sometimes feel as flat and dated as it is charmingly retro.

Remember what large-format movies were like before "in your face" became standard operating procedure? "The Greatest Places" is a gentle reminder of them. It hovers, swoops, and glides - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially for very young viewers. The problem is that the film rarely penetrates visually or emotionally as it flits from place to place, barely touching down long enough to sit for tea with Tibetan nomads or reveal anything unique about the many intriguing critters it jumps to include.

Adding even more distance is empty, overwrought narration written by Pamela Stacey and delivered by Avery Brooks (Captain Sisko in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"). And it doesn't help the freshness factor of the theatrical experience to know that you can download the entire movie for free on IMDb.com.

The 1998 film begins with a mini history of how the continents formed, then it sets off on a whirlwind tour of Madagascar, Tibet's Chang Tang Plateau, South America's Amazon River and Iguazu Falls, Greenland's glaciers, and Africa's Namib Desert and Okavango Delta. Along the way, you get to see a variety of majestic landscapes and weather conditions. There's even a stampede of buffalo that begs to be reshot in IMAX 3D.

But the one thing still made abundantly clear in this relatively low-tech, drive-by presentation is that these truly are some of Earth's greatest places.

Janice Page can be reached at jpage@globe.com. For more on movies, go to www.boston.com/ movienation.