The omnibus is an interesting filmmaking format. It allows for many storytellers to provide their own take on a similar tale. Unfortunately the fatal flaw in the omnibus is that the viewer has to travel every peak and valley whether they want to or not, and while some peaks can be gloriously high, some valleys can be gloriously low. Such is the fly in the ambitious ointment that is THE NATIONAL PARKS PROJECT.

Commissioned by Parks Canada, THE NATIONAL PARKS PROJECT is a fusion of film and music that has been brought together to celebrate the group’s 100th anniversary. The film collects thirteen talented filmmakers plus more than thirty amazing musicians, and turns them loose on Canada’s National Parks. The directive is to capture the spirit of the landscape, and to compose melodies that compliment that spirit.

Some of these short films are glorious, presenting the elements in gorgeous, painterly, and abstract ways. The lushness of the forests, the majesty of the glaciers, and the endlessness of the skies are all stunning in the way they are captured. But these moments have to share stage time with perplexing shorts where the parks aren’t so much the feature as the people visiting them. On paper that doesn’t seem like such a bad approach, but believe me: it’s a disservice.

What’s likewise perplexing is the fact that so much of the music that accompanies these films is guitar-based. More variety might have better suited the changes from park to park. Such unevenness is a pity too, since the chapters that are good are very very good. I won’t soon forget watching the footage of Kluane that was entirely captured upside-down, or the nighttime wanderings through Prince Albert lit entirely by flashlight.

THE NATIONAL PARKS PROJECT is ambitious, and for that I cannot fault it one lick. Quite often, it is a fitting tribute to the parts of this country we are working to protect and includes visuals that will play wonderfully on a big screen. However, with a two-hour runtime, those chapters that don’t work bog down the whole experience.

THE NATIONAL PARKS PROJECT plays tonight – 9:30 pm at The Lightbox, and again on Monday May 2nd – 9:15pm at The Royal.