Journey Into Amazing Caves opens today at the Cinesphere. Bring oxygen, if you go. You might need it.

Some of the Imax sequences could take your breath away, it's that thrilling and suffocating, at different times and for different reasons.

The good news is that breaks occur between the cave sequences, shot in ice, underwater and deep within the bowels of the earth.

Topside, overviews arrive with panoramic establishing shots over Greenland, at the Yucatan in Mexico and along the red-rock desert in Arizona -- the three caving locations.

Narrated by actor Liam Neeson, the adventure-science travelogue comes from the team of Greg MacGillivray and Stephen Judson, and features music by The Moody Blues. That's fine.

So is exploring the unexplored frontiers of caves with microbiologist Dr. Hazel Barton (who searches for microscopic extremophile bacteria) and diminutive cave rescue expert Nancy Aulenbach, a grade school teacher with lots of gumption.

First up -- or down -- are the awesome limestone caves in the Little Colorado River gorge near the Grand Canyon.

Next is the dangerous drop into ice caves of Greenland, where walls of ice can break away at any moment. Those bits are as nerve-wracking as they should be.

But the most treacherous, and the most breathtaking, is the segment showing Barton's underwater caving journey near Dos Ojos, south of Cancun.

Above ground, we get to witness assistants rappeling down cliffs, roping across canyons and trekking through the Mexican jungle.

We also get to learn a few things. Barton isn't a thrill seeker, but a dedicated searcher of microbiotic organisms that could potentially be used in the treatment of diseases.

Aulenback, who sounds a lot like Holly Hunter, is a member of the U.S. National Cave Rescue Tiny Team, whose members are capable of slipping through small openings.

Missing in Amazing Caves is this: Pictures of the Imax camera team that went where the cavers went.

Mind you, that would have required two teams, and that would have been amazing all in itself.

(This film is rated G)

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