Walking With Dinosaurs

One thing about films released near the end of the year is that they have a tendency to be grandiose and looming. I believe the reason for this comes from the fact that it being the holiday time and people take time off, Hollywood brings out the big guns to woo their audience into those theater seats. And what could be bigger than "Walking With Dinosaurs"?

The BBC TV series "Walking With Dinosaurs" strides its way to the big screen with this live-action/CG-animated feature film following a courageous young dinosaur, Patchi (Justin Long) on an incredible adventure through the prehistoric world through a prehistoric bird 'guide' Alex (John Leguizamo).
After losing their parents, Patchi and brother Scowler (Skylar Stone) have to get the herd migrated to where it needs to be on their own, and facing not only obstacles, such as predators, fires, and severe weather conditions, but also meeting a young female, Juniper (Tiya Sircar) from another herd.

Others to round out the cast are Karl Urban as Uncle Zack, Charlie Rowe as Ricky, Angourie Rice as Jade, and Clay Savage as Radio Announcer.

This was adequately directed by Barry Cook, Neil Nightingale, and Pierre De Lespinios. Even though it had a tendency to be a bit stagy, you didn't mind because the visuals were so over whelming. It was written by John Collee ("Paper Mask" '90, "The Heart Surgeon" (TV movie) '97, "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" '03, "Happy Feet" '06, "Creation" '09). I realize this is a story geared toward the family demographic, however the script leaned so far toward being childlike in its presentation that adults would find themselves squirming in their seats. Don't get me wrong, we need more films that parents can feel safe taking their kids to, but the script could have been written in a way as to fit like a glove for all. Of course, the real star here are the incredible visual effects and animation predominantly created by Animal Logic. This is where the film excels, and therefore will be the most memorable aspect of the film.

This is a film that must be experienced on the large screen, because by the very nature of the magnitude of the visuals, it would lose everything on a 25 incher. The grandiose of this coupled with a 3D process will have you talking about this well past the end credits.

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                       Rated: PG                        87mins.