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36 reviews in total

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15 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Wow!!, 24 November 1999

Author: Sweetmelly from Kassel, Deutschland

This documentary is absolutely fantastic. I was really astonished that you can make with so less money such amazing fx. Especially the scenes of the birth of the Diplodocus babies or the sad story of the big flying dinosaur were wonderful and breathtaking. Well the only flaw was: It was to short!!

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13 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Awesome, 18 April 2000

Author: filmbuff-36 from Houston, TX

Great "documentary" of how scientist's believed dinosaurs behaved, captured with some of the most spectacular CGI since "Jurassic Park". Done completely seriously, like a prehistoric episode of "Nation Geographic". Grabs your attention from the first frame and never lets go. My favorite part was when the Diplodocus fights off the Allosauros.

10 stars. This is what science is all about.

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10 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Superb on DVD -- avoid Discovery's televised version, 28 July 2000
Author: Jonah Falcon (jonahnynla@mindspring.com) from New York, NY

You can't watch this documentary as aired on the Discovery channel (narrated wonderfully, though, by Avery Brooks). Apparently, they thought us American audiences couldn't handle, say, the cynodonts devouring their own young, or a mother T-rex regurgitating freshly killed meat for its young. How presumptive of Discovery.

On the other hand, the documentary is flawlessly done. You really get the impression of "being there", and you don't just get dinosaurs. You get the cynodontia (mammal-like reptiles), the dung beetles, the postosuchus, the terrifying liplurodon (which makes the T-rex look like an iguana by comparison), the sneaking didelphodon, and early birds.

The UK 6 episode version puts everything into perspective. Ending with a shot of the African jungle, and now we can see how similiar the world then was to the world today.

There are no iguanadons or sauropods in herds, but elephants and zebras. There are no tyrannosaurs or utahraptors, but lions and tigers.

Notably, the documentary wisely stays aware from the question of, say, whether the sauropods were warm- or coldblooded, or the new concept of gigantotherms (the sheer size of the body creates its own heat).

Congratulation, BBC.

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10 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Excellent viewing, and extra effort in the "little things", 24 April 2000

Author: Denver53 from Denver, Colo.

We bought the DVD of "Walking with Dinosaurs" and have been nearly ecstatic over the things that are done so very well on it.

Many DVDs today offer the bare minimum ... the feature itself, and maybe one other language (which doesn't help the viewer at all, but makes it easier for the company to see the DVD in multiple markets).

Not so in the case of WWD. There are so many wonderful extras and well-thought-out vignettes that watching even the *navigation menu* is interesting. The intros to each chapter in "The Making Of" DVD are laugh-out-loud funny. The quality of the sound and video is terrific. And of course the story and content ... what more could a dinosaur lover ask for?

I did watch most of the version broadcast on TDC (narrated by Avery Brooks) then watched about half of the DVD (narrated by Kenneth Branaugh). As near as I can tell, the broadcast version slipped in a number of mostly American slang terms in the narration (i.e. in a section about T. Rex mating, Branugh says "the female is tiring of the male's attention" and Brooks says, "The honeymoon is over")and cut out some of the closer-in puppet work. I prefer the Branugh version simply because it is more complete.

Overall, a great value and wonderful production. many kudos to the BBC and the crew that made this gem.

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8 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Brilliantly produced documentary, 4 October 2002
Author: (wayneablood@verizon.net) from New York, NY

This BBC produced series (6 Hrs worth) won many emmy awards and is an absolute must for any dinosaur aficionado. The series is approached as if it were a modern day nature film. The dinosaur effects put most movies to shame. I cannot recommend it enough.

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7 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
The Best Dinosaur Documentary Ever!, 2 March 2000

Author: startrek2000 (startrek2000@x-stream.co.uk) from Darwen, England

Walking With Dinoasaurs is a new and exciting programme that uses amazing visual graphics to display the living dinosaurs. The information presented here is stunning. The moods in the series alter to get your attention, things such as dramatic music when fights break out. There is clear evidence here for one cracking documentary! My greatest thanx to the writers, directors and producers, and not forgetting the other people involved. If you stumble accross this video in shops I suggest you buy it not just for the graphics, but for the extreme efforts and productive work the series has to offer. 10/10

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Entertaining and Informative. This will make you go oh wow even though you're actually learning something, 30 August 2006

Author: dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York

This is as good as it gets.

This is six episodes tracing (briefly) what life may have been like when dinosaurs ruled the earth. Done in the style of a nature documentary this show does away with talking heads instead just gives us the good stuff with the dinosaurs attempting to survive.

Certainly this isn't a true documentary since none of what we see on screen can be attested to with any certainty, but its a best guess, and an entertaining one at that. Here is a show that brings dinosaurs to life in a realistic way that doesn't involve them eating people. This is a show that should be shown to any kid who loves dinosaurs since it will instill them with the OH WOW factor to go out and find out more. It will also entertain the hell out of them, and you.

See this. If you love animal shows or nature or science or Disney True Life Adventures (except no one really gets killed) or just a really good trip to somewhere else run out and get yourself a copy. Your brain will thank you.

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Very Well Done, 19 November 2002
Author: Kevstros00

I viewed "Walking with Dinosaurs" in my Geology class last week. I can honestly say this is the first movie I've ever seen at school that I would buy to watch over and over again at home. The graphics and the stories are simply amazing. Since scientists have only fossils to go by, they of course do not know as much about dinosaurs as they would have us believe. However, the graphics and story lines in this film give you a feel for how the Dinosaurs "probably" were. Many of the scenes resemble wildlife shows in which they follow a lion on the hunt, or an antelope escaping danger. I found myself actually pulling for a turtle to get to the sea, before a gigantic mammal weighing over a ton ate him. The graphics are better than Jurassic Park, however, unlike Jurassic Park, the information is insightful, giving the audience a visual feel for how scientist believe ancient creatures acted. If you're interested in Science, History, or Dinosaurs then you will love this film. If you are a science teacher, show your kids this film! They will love it.

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Awesome!, 5 June 2000

Author: JAM-31 from Los Angeles, CA

If you haven't seen this yet, you really should, on DVD. I can't believe how much I enjoyed it! It is amazingly realistic and believable. True, much of it is speculated, and I would have liked to have known more about what was speculative and what were proven facts (there aren't many of them), but it handles everything quite well with a "Cruel Mother Nature" theme. It will remind you of the nature programs that you've seen on Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel, only the animals here are Dinosaurs. They act natural; they eat, kill, mate, play, and fight for survival. You will actually find yourself rooting for some of them and against others.

For the most part, the effects are excellent. At times they will look a little too much like CGI's, but then you will see them in a different angle that makes them look more realistic. In some cases, you will actually be convinced that you've seen a dinosaur. My favorites were the Coelophysis, the raptors, the diplodocus, the iguanadons, the allosaurus and the arctic bipeds. I was most disappointed with the T-Rex, however, which looked a little too computer generated at times.

In any case, you should definitely see this production. It is educational, well made, and very entertaining. For what it is, its an A!

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5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Mind blowing, 31 January 2001
Author: La Gremlin from Boston, MA

The concept behind this series is so brilliant, you wonder why nobody thought of it before. Do a dinosaur documentary, but do it in the style of, say, "Mutual of Omaha's Wild America" or something.

The result is astonishing.

The thing is, you end up not marveling at the special effects but at the fact that *you do not notice the effects*. You'd swear the filmakers really did go to the future Petrified Forest to get their footage. It's unreal.

Simply put, this is what "Disney's Dinosaur" had mad delusions of being.

There were, granted, a few scenes that had me going "I... don't... know..." (most notably the mother sauropod laying her eggs with an ovipositor that'd shame the "Aliens" queen and then leaving them there), and the music tends to be *very* hyperdramatic. All complaints aside, this is true movie magic. And who can complain about that?

Note to teachers: In case you're thinking of showing this to the kids, I'd give this a PG-13. It isn't any more violent than your average animal documentary, but there's quite a bit of -gasp!- saurian sex.

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