Common Sense Note
Parents should know that, although presented in matter-of-fact, scientific fashion, some of the dramatizations may be unsuitable for younger or more sensitive kids. The film shows dinosaurs attacking and eating each other, as well as peeing and pooping. Sauropods and others are discreetly shown coupled; mating rituals and habits are discussed.
Families who see this film might discuss the limitations of documentaries, especially those about animals we've never observed directly. What sorts of things did the filmmakers have to guess at or speculate on in order to create this film? Do we really know what color dinosaurs were? Do you think this was exactly the way they walked? Sounded? Cared for their young? Fought one another? How might one go about sorting out what is known about dinosaurs from the fiction and speculation?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Scott G. Mignola
Like a straight-forward nature documentary, this ambitious production combines stunning photography and state-of-the-art digital effects to bring the evolution and demise of the dinosaurs to life in all of their living, howling splendor. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, the program contains additional footage not seen in the original Discovery Channel broadcast, some of which may be unsuitable for young viewers.
Six separate episodes, beginning with the late Triassic period and closing with the late Cretaceous, chronicle the 155-million-year reign of the dinosaurs. Sites in Chile, Tasmania, New Caledonia, and elsewhere furnish natural landscapes for the realistic, digitally created creatures.
The series opens with the evolution of the first known dinosaurs and proceeds through the "Time of the Titans," "Giants of the Skies," and others to the "Death of a Dynasty" 65 million years ago, when a giant meteor changed the face of the earth and brought an end to the age of reptiles.
Somebody had a great idea, which was to make a documentary series about dinosaurs, but with a twist. The aging ornithocheirus on a desperate final flight to his mating grounds, the sauropod hatchlings struggling for survival in the late Jurassic, the migrating herds and the undersea life of 150 million years ago would all seem as real as a nature program about polar bears or snow monkeys. Employing the talents of the Emmy Award-winning FrameStore Group and the latest digital technology, The Discovery Channel did just that.
Paleontological discoveries from fossil remains and preserved footprint groupings provide the framework; the rest is best-guess speculation and a lot of imagination.
Dinosaur lovers will see some of their favorites here. Parents and kids can make a game of identifying them: Stegosaurus. Triceratops. Tyrannosaurus Rex, the armored, club-tailed Ankylosaurus. Nature lovers will get what they've come to expect from well-produced BBC programs, namely beautiful scenery and footage of large animals fighting, killing, evacuating themselves (number one and number two), mating, sleeping, and playing.
While the effects don't quite rival those in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, they're impressive enough to make you feel like a privileged visitor to a time long past, and view the resident beasts not as bones assembled in a museum, but as living, breathing creatures.
Families who enjoy this video may be interested in a less-realistic, but perhaps more entertaining for little ones, dino movie Dinosaur.
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Sexual ContentSauropods and others are discreetly shown coupled; mating rituals and habits are discussed. |
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ViolenceDinosaurs attack and eat each other. |
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