Rex Appeal (2011 TV Movie) User Reviews

Rex Appeal

[jboothmillard · 7/10 · 14 October 2011]

I only found about this special one off documentary when it was briefly mentioned on Harry Hill's TV Burp, and being a film fan, including with the subject matter talked about here, I certainly wanted to watch it. Basically this programme chronicles how dinosaurs have created and brought to life in some of the most popular films in history, starting from the early days right into the present. Dinosaurs were one of the greatest and most fascinating discoveries that scientists found, and so naturally they became the stars of some of the biggest blockbusters of all time, whether created by animation, puppetry, stop motion or computer generated special effects. The films mentioned throughout this programme included Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) - one of the first cartoons ever made, The Lost World from Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle, King Kong (1933 and 2005) where dinosaurs were the supporting characters, Disney's Fantasia with the reign and extinction of the dinosaurs during the Igor Stravinsky music "The Rite of Spring", The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Giant Behemoth, Gojira (1954) - translated as Godzilla, including the American reversion of Godzilla, King of the Monsters! and the 1998 Roland Emmerich remake, All Monsters Attack (Godzilla's Revenge), Gorgo, When Dinosaurs Rules the Earth, One Million Years B.C. starring the gorgeous Raquel Welch in the leopard skin bikini, Prehistoric Women, The Animal World, Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, The Valley of Gwangi, Unknown Island, Caveman, and of course the essential and most acclaimed interpretation of dinosaurs in the movies - Jurassic Park, based on the book by Michael Crichton and from director Steven Spielberg, it made millions at the box office, and made stars of the dinosaurs featured, such as the Brachiosaurus, Triceratops, Dilophosaurus, Velociraptors and of course the Tyrannosaurus Rex (oddly most of the dinosaurs featured are in fact from the Cretaceous period), and The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III followed, with a fourth sequel rumoured. Narrated by Tamara Kennedy, with contributions from Dr. Paul Barrett, Dr. Mark Bould, Deborah Cadbury, Susan Calman, Stephen Cavaliar, Professor Ian Christie, Tony Dalton, Dave Golder, Dr. Francis Gooding, Stuart Heritage, Dr. Ian Hunter, James King, Gia Milinovich, Nigel Morris, Kim Newman, Dr. Adam Rutherford and Matthew Sweet. Very good!