Don't expect too many of these movie prediction articles, but this one I had to do for two reasons. First, and most importantly, dinosaurs have been a passion of mine since I was four years old (this is likely to become evident in future articles). Second, I loved the BBC series Walking With Dinosaurs, so I have high expectations for this movie. Read on to see my thoughts.
Walking With Dinosaurs 3D: Evolved, or Extinct?
In 1999, a six part miniseries called Walking with Dinosaurs premiered on BBC. It followed creatures that
once inhabited our earth millions of years ago, portrayed through state of the
art, photo-realistic visual effects and sophisticated animatronics. It remains
the most expensive TV documentary program ever produced; 9.9 million dollars to
make the six twenty seven minute episodes. The show won numerous awards and
considerable praise from critics and audiences.
Most of the effects hold up to this day, which is quite
impressive, considering the dinosaurs look as good as the ones from Jurassic Park, and this is a series made
for TV. Now, fourteen years after the show’s debut, a live action film has
finally been made for American movie goers. Will it have the wide appeal of the
BBC series, or is this dino romp going to disappoint?
In the nineties, dinosaurs were more popular than ever.
Everything had dinosaurs—movies for kids and adults (Jurassic Park, Carnosaur,
Land Before Time, even the Super Mario
Bros. Movie), Television (Dinosaurs,
Barney, Paleo World documentary series), video games (Primal Rage, numerous Jurassic
Park inspired games), merchandise, and so, so much more. Walking with Dinosaurs capped it all off
and delivered, in my opinion, one of the most spectacular documentaries ever.
Filmed in real locations around the world and depicting dinosaurs in the most
realistic way ever, the show’s creators recruited paleontologists (among other
experts) to help recreate the Mesozoic era using the most up to date science
and evidence they had. The show depicted dinosaurs as they would have been in real
life, and utilized a nature documentary style. The series was a hit, and
started the Walking with...franchise,
spawning subsequent miniseries including Walking
with Monsters: Life before Dinosaurs, and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts.
A film based on the series had been long brewing. It was
finally scheduled for release in December 2013. Twentieth Century Fox is
distributing the BBC Earth Production, which was made on a budget of 85
million. At first I welcomed the idea of a Walking
with Dinosaurs film. It had been too long since I had seen dinosaurs on the
big screen in something that wasn’t Jurassic
Park. Computer generated imagery has been improved immensely since the late
nineties, and with the success of Avatar and
even the re-release of Jurassic Park
in 3D, the idea of a new 3D dinosaur movie seemed fantastic.
Then I read the plot synopsis. Unlike the BBC series, which
followed various dinosaurs through six time periods, this film would follow one
main dinosaur—a Pachyrhinosaurus, of
the three horned Triceratops family—and
his journey through the early Cretaceous. I didn’t expect the film to journey
in depth through the whole history of dinosaurs, but I at least hoped they
would create an interwoven story a la Dinotasia.
Dinotasia, a documentary that came
out a few years ago, combined used and unused footage from the Discovery
Channel show Dinosaur Revolution to
create a sweeping story of different dinosaurs throughout the ages. Although it
wasn’t a great show, I admired the storytelling techniques of focusing in on
individual dinos and jumping from time period to time period.
It seemed the Walking
with Dinosaurs movie was going to be a very loose adaptation of the BBC
series. Despite this, I remained optimistic. The first trailer premiered
halfway through 2013, and as the first few shots unfolded, it seemed good. The
dinosaur effects looked pristine, the landscapes accurate and beautiful, and
the music great. Then, a movie trailer voice-over began, describing how one little
dinosaur would grow up to be a big hero. It started going south from there.
After the trailer ended, my feelings were even more mixed.
The story seemed to follow another dino documentary with an almost identical
premise: dinosaurs migrating from Alaska down North America. Even the dinosaur
species were the same. The trailer really did look visually impressive, but the
voice narrating the trailer was annoying and very unnecessary. It made one
thing clear: this film was not targeting a wide range of ages like the BBC
series had. This would appeal to kids and families, made even clearer in the
second trailer.
After watching the second trailer, I lost pretty much all
hope for this movie. The trailer revealed something I had been completely
unaware of. These dinosaurs—these photo-realistic, scientifically accurate,
ultra precise recreations of extinct creatures—now had voice-over. Actors were
supplying voices for the dinosaur’s thoughts. I couldn’t believe it at first.
But it was true. This now seemed like a film exclusively for children.
Even though I abhor the idea of giving a dinosaur internal
dialogue, there’s still a tiny part of me that wants to see this movie. It’s
likely going to be this decade’s Dinosaur
(2000), which I saw in the theater at the age of six. It blew my mind then, and
it’s still a great movie now. If Walking
with Dinosaurs 3D came out when I was six, I would have given up my entire
collection of dinosaur toys just to see it. Obviously this is a kid’s movie,
but the fact that it teeters on that line between aiming at mature and younger
audiences bothers me. At least with Dinosaur,
the fact that it was a Disney movie was made clear. The dinosaurs talked out
loud, had big, human looking eyes, and were intelligent. Even though the
dinosaurs spoke, it was a good film and still appealed to a wide audience
(although obviously designed for kids and families). The visuals were
incredible, and the carnivorous Carnotaurs (the film’s main antagonists) were
seriously frightening, to all ages.
Walking with Dinosaurs
is trying to do two things at once. It is attempting to create a realistic
vision of dinosaurs (not in a fun Disney way like Dinosaur), but still appeal to a family audience. The decision to
add internal dialogue is a very bad one as far as I’m concerned. Aside from
this glaring error, it still looks like the film will have some merit, mainly
in visual appeal. The dinosaurs look great, and the 3D will likely enhance the
experience. But, whatever immersive experience the film might have had will
likely be gone once that voice-over kicks in.
As a fan of the original BBC series (and someone who didn’t
get to see Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience), I still sort of want
to see this movie. I’m hoping the reviews won’t be too scathing, and if they
are not, that I can go see the film and tune out the voice-over.
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