Watched it with my 12yo as part of his space unit in home school science. we'd read a lot about gravity and watched real footage of space so it was neat to watch the way they portrayed it in the movies. Tears and hair were not realistic, and we had the same thought about her taking off her helmet in the smoke. I was a bit confused as to why she didn't shoot out into space until I realized it was her mind playing games that opened the door. The fire was pretty cool. The dead people were freaky, though I can't imagine that the hole through the head was right either.
Nitpicking only because it was a learning experience as well as fun.
I read through this entire thread and I wondered at how many discussed Sandra's butt, but nobody mentioned the philosophical theme of how precious and 'safe' our earth is to our fragile life. We keep reading about how cold and stark space is and how dangerous every mission is - how crucial it is that every one of a thousand things goes right - we spent a long time learning about Apollo 13 and watched a video on the shuttles that explained the shuttle disasters and the part that human error and politics of pressure played in it...
This movie captured the isolation of space from the rest of the human race so vividly that when she got onto land and grasped that sand, I felt a love for this world like never before.
There is so much war and so much corruption and pollution and destruction and I've always hated it all, but this movie drove home the point that we don't fully realize just how special this planet and our species and the other animals on it are. Scientists keep searching and people keep hoping for life elsewhere, but it is so distant a dream.
The other thing that has gotten to me while studying the Space Program and the politics in it (and Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon/Around the Moon) is how focusing on space exploration and traveling gave the best minds and powers an opportunity to put their work to something besides weapons. A space race is so much better than an arms race. Billions of dollars 'wasted' to send people into outer space is worth more than billions of dollars on weapons.
Anyway - GREAT movie. Sorry we didn't see it in the theater, but when you have kids sometimes you have to put off seeing things when they first come out.
2nd best 3D picture I have ever seen :thumbsup
