Walking With Dinosaurs 3D
Directors: Barry Cook, Lee Nightengale
Actors: Justin Long, John Leguziamo
Release Date: Monday 30th November -0001
Genre(s): Animation
Running time: 87 minutes
This has as much to do with the BBC series as Patriot Games had to do with the Troubles. This adaptation promises to be 'the real thing', an immersive experience that finally gives the viewer the closest possible to what it really was like to walk with the dinosaurs. Well, according to The 3D Movie what it was like to really walk with the dinosaurs had a lot in common a straight-to-DVD Disney sequel. Only the impressive special effects, and the occasional laugh, keep this light adventure comedy afloat.
Karl Urban drives his sullen nephew and excited niece into the Alaskan hills to explore dinosaur fossils; the unimpressed nephew stays with the truck and is approached by a talking bird, Alex (Leguiziamo), who tells him that he's missing out on a lot. Flashback to 65 million years (or so) ago and we meet Patchi (Long), a baby Pachyrhinosauras with a hole in his frill; when his parents die the weak Patchi and his jock older brother Scowler (Stone) are forced into the wilderness in search of their herd...
Walking With Dinosaurs kicks off with a strong educational element - every time a new dinosaur is introduced, we get a freeze frame and a child's narration informs us what kind of dinosaur it is, whether it's herbivore, carnivore, and it’s Latin name. But species of dinos are kept to a minimum so after introducing about five the educational aspect drops off and the sub-Disney influences take over.
The offbeam, sometimes-disinterested narration by Alex throws up a few laughs and the dialogue does its level best to come across as hip and down with the kids. While you can forget about the 3D ' the glasses dim the visuals by 50% - the special effects themselves are striking.
I would worry about the movie's message though. The story might be set in a more primal time but 'take what you want by force' or 'the only way to get what you want is to take it by force' seems a bit suited to that time too. And girls – represented solely here by Juniper (Stone), who goes along with the strongest in the herd despite her feelings for Patchi because 'that's the rule' - won’t be pleased that they are reduced to Rescue Fodder.
And by the way, we don't get to see Urban again after that brief intro
