Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure (2007)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Sean MacLeod Phillips

Writer:

Mose Richards (writer)

Release Date:

5 October 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Animation | Short | Adventure

Tagline:

82 million years in the making

Plot:

Brings to life some of the most bizarre, ferocious and fascinating creatures to ever inhabit the ocean...

Plot Keywords:

Reenactment | Narration | Sea | Underwater | National Geographic Magazine

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Jerry Hoffman	...	Charles Sternberg
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jennifer Aguilar	...	Female Grad Student
Michael Ashcraft	...	South Dakota Scientist 2
Michael Ashcroft	...	South Dakota Scientist 2
Paul Burmaster	...	North Dakota Collector #1
Paul W. Burmaster	...	North Dakota Collector
Albert J. Burnes	...	Male Grad Student (as Albert Burnes)
Daniel Coldham	...	Worker - Phosphate Mine
Toni Dodd	...	Pamela Everhart
Derek Gamble	...	Worker - Phosphate Mine
Chris Glaze	...	Michael J. Everhart
Curtis Hawkins	...	Worker - Phosphate Mine
Cheryl Hunter	...	Dr. Betsy Richards
C.J. Johnson	...	Road Worker
Efi Kamara	...	Worker - Phosphate Mine
Doug Kisgen	...	Levi Sternberg
Chris Koeberl	...	Netherlands Scientist
Kathleen Leighton	...	Texas Collector 1
Brian Lemmons	...	Worker - Phosphate Mine
Michael McConnohie	...	George Sternberg (voice)
Nissam Mina	...	Forman - Phosphate Mine
Casey Myers	...	Texas Collector 2 (as Casey Meyers)
Dan Nichols	...	Martin
Frank Novak	...	George Sternberg (60s)
Liam Owen	...	Photographer
Shari Phillips	...	Camping Mother Voice
Thea Phillips	...	Camping Daughter (voice)
James Rudnick	...	Australian Scientist 1
Charlotte Salem	...	Camping Daughter
Joe Salem	...	Camping Father
Liev Schreiber	...	Himself - Narrator (voice)
Michael Sorich	...	South Dakota Scientist 1 (voice)
Jeffrey Staab	...	George Sternberg (as Jeff Staab)
Kevin Stidham	...	Australian Scientist 2
Walley Thornton	...	Reporter
Jack van Dijk	...	Netherlands Scientist
Caroline Vinciguerra	...	Mom
Chris Wheatley	...	North Dakota Collector

Runtime:

40 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hebrew

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Finland:K-3

Company:

Day's End Pictures

Almost "Walking With Dinosaurs" quality

This short documentary was a bit of a mixed bag. First the 3-D and CG: the director obviously was more at ease with the the extensive CG then the live action elements, because the 3-D work was jarring and uneven during then. Part of the problem occurs when the live-action segments are shot too closely to the target. There is a sequence in a car and it took me ten seconds at least to get adjusted to the 3-D. These are not problems that occurred in vista shots.

The CG work was fantastic and the 3-D involving it was equally as impressive. I saw Meet the Robinsons in 3-D this spring and am eagerly awaiting whatever other 3-D offers there are in store like Beowolf and Avatar.

I hate to keep ragging on the live-action elements, but the acting was wretched too. Apparently it is difficult finding somebody who will have all of 30 seconds of screen time and maybe 20 words of dialogue to not sound like they're reading off of a teleprompter. It is nice to see and having a 5-year it is nice to be able to show and explain to him how we can and do know these things about creatures that died out millions of years ago, but with such wooden acting it makes me just sit and wait until the CG behemoths come tearing across the screen again.