For the first time in movie history audiences will truly see and feel what it was like when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Walking with Dinosaurs is the ultimate immersive experience utilizing state of the art 3D to put audiences in the middle of a thrilling and epic prehistoric world where an underdog dino triumphs to become a hero for the ages.
Review
(Warning This review contains spoilers. If you don't want your movie ruined leave. NOW...)
In 1999 we were introduced to a documentary which would later become the of the greatest dinosaur documentary ever made. "Walking with Dinosaurs" provided us that we could be able to enjoy a dinosaurrelated program without the need to put in talking dinosaurs. While the effects weren't fully ȬGI" we were presented with completely realistic behaviour environments and surprisingly A really good story detailing about a certain dinosaur in one episode. From a female Coelophysis trying survive a Triassic drought with her pack members to a female Tyrannosaurus struggling to care for her young near the end of the Age of Dinosaurs these stories were proved to be realistic emotional and provided a sense of immersion. In a sense we felt connected to the dinosaur whether it was a bloodthirsty predator or not. Also the music in the background helped to create a brilliant atmosphere to the viewers which every future ȭinoMentary started to take. The show was so good it is actually 72nd place in the 100 Greatest British Television Programs by the British institute in 1999. It also led to the success of the "Walking With..." series claiming numerous awards mostly for it's effects.
Years have passed and now we are presented with a new dinosaur film which is based on the 1999 documentary which is to be distributed by 20th Century Fox. As a dinosaur fan I was very anticipated to watch this film. While it isn't a documentary movie we still waited for it due to it's gorgeous looking visuals and dinosaurs. I was a little nervous as Fox is infamous for sometimes screwing up one of media's greatest such as Dragonball Evolution and Percy Jackson. Everyone was excited until November. What followed was arguably the stupidest decision the filmmakers could ever think of.
The idea to put in voice acting was just too much. What would have been a movie that could have been watchable and possibly set a new standard in dinosaur movies was completely destroyed in a blink of an eye. To top everything off the voices are worse and I mean it WORSE than what it was in Speckles the Tarbosaurus (Yes the narration was terrible but at least it improved at the climax). The movie is also trying to be funny with it's voice acting but the only thing that makes us laugh is the acting itself. None of the jokes presented in this film provide humour. And worst of all they put songs in! I mean why Why are you turning something that is already bad into something much worse! The songs were also very much scrambled all over. The only thing the song really do is to make the film more idiotic for us fans.
Steven Spielberg could just sit down on his couch and relax with Jurassic Park. This film looked as it it could be better than what Spielberg did until the voices had to pop. The main character's family does die early on but however it isn't as comparable as Speckles's. While Patchi at least had his brother and an Alexornis Speckles's was somewhat engaging by the fact that he was alone and that there was no one to help him. The only ally he had during his whole life was his future mate who also died near the climax. Heck even some of his kids are killed as well. Also Speckles never did have to keep moving his mouth over and over though the narration ruined it a little. Also the story was more effective and presented as a more serous and darker one compared to other dinosaur films. It was more emotional made you immersed into the prehistoric world and at least made you think about how dangerous the world is and how much you would suffer if you lost your family or loved ones. This is why I love Speckles the Tarbosaurus. But in this well keep talking keep making comedy and try to ripoff Disney as much as you want.
This is one of those films that while very promising at first is immediately killed off later on. The actors (Even John Leguizamo) do such a poor job in voicing the dinosaurs and the dinosaurs do more stupider things than in the previous ones (Patchi trying to act like a "ninja"). The main reason why this is a 110 is because 20th Century Fox had the guts to take one of the best documentaries BBC ever made and completely obliterate every source material that made the original so brilliant and innovative. And before you go "It's a kids movie!" that's fine for me but for someone who waited for the movie for a very long time let me just say this
For any and I mean EVERYONE who loves dinosaurs and who wants to become a paleontologist kick this movie out of the list and watch Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park instead. Congratulations for everyone affiliated with the move (Yes even Scott D. Sampson a paleontologist that I highly admire) and completely butchering it. If you want to watch a good animated dinosaur film just stick up to The Land Before Time Disney's Dinosaur and Speckles the Tarbosaurus...
Final Rating An abysmal 110 (My first negative review).