Sea Rex 3D: Journey to a Prehistoric World (2010)

Directors:

Ronan Chapalain
Pascal Vuong

Writers:

Richard Dowlearn (screenplay)
Pascal Vuong (written by)
(more)

Release Date:

27 July 2010 (Japan)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

The T-Rex of the Seas come alive.

Plot Keywords:

Sea | 3D | IMAX | Prehistoric Fish | Prehistoric Times

Cast

Guillaume Denaiffe	...	Conservatory assistant
Norbert Ferrer	...	Jacques
Chloe Hollings	...	Julie
Richard Rider	...	Georges Cuvier

Directed by
Ronan Chapalain
Pascal Vuong

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ronan Chapalain		written by
Richard Dowlearn		screenplay
Pascal Vuong		written by

Produced by
Francois Mantello	....	producer
Franck Savorgnan	....	line producer
Catherine Vuong	....	producer
Pascal Vuong	....	producer

Original Music by
Franck Marchal

Cinematography by
Christophe Grelié

Film Editing by
Hugo Caruana

Production Design by
Jiri Hanibal Jr.

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sylvain Grain	....	first assistant director

Sound Department
Gilles Vivier	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Pascal Charpentier	....	visual effects supervisor
Vincent Lemaire	....	animator
Benjamin Westercamp	....	digital compositor

Camera and Electrical Department
Philippe Bordelais	....	steadicam operator
Denis Lagrange	....	underwater cinematographer
Adrien Maillard	....	electrician
Brice Tupin	....	electrician
Thomas Watson	....	Libra head technician: aerial camera operator

Editorial Department
Serge Anthony	....	colorist

Other crew
Nathalie Bardet	....	principal scientific advisor (as Dr. Nathalie Bardet)
Zulma Gasparini	....	scientific advisor (as Dr. Zulma Gasparini)
Sylvain Grain	....	production assistant
Benjamin Kear	....	scientific advisor (as Dr. Benjamin Kear)
Denis Lagrange	....	underwater cameraman
Ryosuke Motani	....	scientific advisor (as Dr. Ryosuke Motani)
Olivier Rieppel	....	scientific advisor (as Dr. Olivier Rieppel)

Production Companies

• Mantello Brothers Productions (co-production)
• N3D Land Productions

Distributors

• 3D Entertainment (2010) (USA) (theatrical)
• La Géode (2011) (France) (theatrical)
• SmartWay Systems (2011) (Estonia) (theatrical)
• SmartWay Systems (2011) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

41 min

Country:

UK | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track

Certification:

Finland:K-3 | South Korea:All

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Mantello Brothers Productions

Goofs:

Factual errors: Throughout the film, mosasaurs are shown to have a fringe on their back. However, the supposed presence of such a fringe was based on the misidentification of mosasaur throat impressions in 1899. The mistake was realized two years later. As far as we know, no such fringe exists.

A Nutshell Review: Sex Rex

My triple IMAX slam ended with Sea Rex: Journey to a Prehistoric World in 2D (instead of 3D, since the Science Centre Omni Theatre doesn't come with 3D projection), and to my surprise, this happens to be the most popular amongst all the films currently showing at the venue. I suppose one just can't get enough of monsters and creatures of all shapes and sizes, and we have Jurassic Park to thank for that boost in dino-interest amongst parents who have watched that film, and their young to whom they must have introduced it to as well.

Directed by Ronan Chapalain and Pascal Vuong, Sex Rex treks back to the prehistoric ages where dinosaurs roamed the earth in the various pre and post Jurassic eras, where the narrative follows a certain student Julie (Chloe Hollings) who meets the spirit of famed paleontologist Georges Cuvier (Richard Rider), and the question of course is why she didn't freak out when this happens in the very silent hours and areas of the aquarium-museum she was in. In any case they strike up a conversation, with Cuvier being the educator for her, and us the audience, into understanding a little bit more of the creatures that once ruled Earth before the coming of the homo-sapiens.

Granted there were enough snazzy computer graphics that serve to visually appeal to the young and old alike at succinctly explaining evolution of the prehistoric eras, and through the recreation of what would be poor cousin renditions of the various creatures, but what ultimately make this a failure in my books, is in trying to play it like a straight documentary, when it certainly isn't. I'm fine with having actors portray characters from the past, but to try and seamlessly mix documentary like, educational content with fictional people given statuses from academia and not clarifying that these are indeed characters and not people, I felt that the line had been crossed, especially if this film has any inkling of objectives to be serving as a platform for research and exploration for the young. And to add to it, the actors were really bad and made this film pass off as quite cheap.

And given that experience, it would have tanked all shreds of credibility this film had in trying to recreate behavioral patterns, as well as look and feel of the creatures, since it had taken a lot of liberties and creative license in crafting of the film, that any traces of truth in trying to convince that could be how the creatures behaved. are now taken with a huge pinch of salt. As such, a documentary this isn't, and as a fictional tale, this one passes off as a mediocre effort, made worse when it didn't even try to milk the IMAX capability it got presented in.