David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive

This documentary is based around the Natural History Museum with the premise being that David Attenborough stays behind after closing time when the museum's fossils come to life (similar to Night at the Museum).

Throughout the documentary Attenborough takes us around the museum, highlighting fossils of extinct animals from the museum's collection and explaining their history and how they came to be at the museum. These fossils then come to life with CGI, allowing us to see what they would have looked like and how they would have behaved in addition to giving us some humorous scenes of David interacting with the extinct animals.

This is a fun format that not only teaches us a lot about the animals and their fossils but also allows us to see them in motion as if they were alive today. The documentary is a must-watch for those interested in natural history or the Natural History Museum in particular, especially if like me you have been visiting the museum for many years. I discovered this documentary years after it originally aired but it still holds up incredibly well.

David Attenborough should have run (or whatever was the fastest gait someone of his age could maintain) from any association with this. His well-deserved reputation for serious examination of the natural world is terribly undercut by this astoundingly juvenile production. Who was this aimed at? It is most certainlycertainlyCERTAINLY not anyone looking for a knowledgeable discussion of the fossil record. The cutesy CGI and the truly lame attempts at humor were embarrassing to say the very least. And any hope that there was any serious intent was constantly undercut by the cringingly awful "wonder-filled" music that was endless. And to those who will tell me to 'lighten-up', I say "you should see what was really there" in this waste of time. I have watched hundreds of NATUREs over the course of the PBS series life and have been up-lifted, entertained, informed, and thrilled by many of them. This piece of tripe reduces NATURE's image, as it does Attenborough's. And the CGI was not particularly well-done. So, avoidAvoidAVOID this.

As said many times, David Attenborough is a national treasure. He may apparently dislike the term, but it is hard to not say that about such a great presenter who has contributed significantly to some of the best documentaries there's ever been.

It is really hard picking favourites, let alone a definite favourite, among what Attenborough has done because he has done so many gems, it is the equivalent of trying to choose your favourite ice cream flavour or your favourite operatic role (for examples) and finding you can't pick. 'David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive' is yet another wonderful effort from him, can the man do any wrong? My one minor complaint is that there could have been a little more of the scenes in the museum and the skeletons of the extinct creatures in action and a little less of the making of series (still very interesting if not as illuminating). 'David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive' may not be one of the best or most ground-breaking of his work, but when it comes to entertainment value and accessibility for all ages it is right up there and the concept for Attenborough is a unique one.

As always with Attenborough's work, it looks wonderful visually. is gorgeously filmed, done in a completely fluid and natural, sometimes intimate way and some of it has a cinematic quality. The editing is always succinct and smooth and the Museum setting leaves one in wonder and is just as fascinating as the information given.

CGI is excellent, adding to the experience instead of distracting. Special effects for skeletons have rarely been more vivid. A perfect example of how CGI has advanced significantly over-time when done and used well like here. Only, as mentioned in the goofs section, the incorrect modelling of the diplodocus' feet disappoints a little but this is a nit-pick. The shorter 3D version is also well worth checking out, the 3D also is done to a very impressive standard and doesn't feel pointless. It's not just how the effects look, they also have personality that allows one to care for them in the same way as one would for a human.

Music fits very well, never overly grandiose while never being inappropriate while also being a beautiful score in its own right.

Even if not ground-breaking in terms of information and subject, what we are told is incredibly informative and really entertains. The science is not dumbed down, a potential danger when trying to appeal to a younger audience. In terms of the facts there was a very good mix of the known ones and the unknown.

Attenborough's contribution as always helps quite a bit. He clearly knows his stuff and knows what to say and how to say it. He delivers it with his usual richness, soft-spoken enthusiasm and sincerity, never talking down to the viewer and keeping them riveted and wanting to know more.

In conclusion, not one of Attenborough's best but still delivers, which says a lot about how good his work is and how good a presenter/narrator he is. 9/10 Bethany Cox

What more can you really say about one of Sir David Attenborough's nature documentaries other than "It's GREAT!" It almost seems kind of pointless even having a lengthy discussion about them in any sort of great detail because everyone already knows that whatever this legendary naturalist decides to do for his next project, it's guaranteed to be a surefire hit every time (right?). This being the sixth instalment in his novelty series of 3D documentaries, Attenborough now takes us on a midnight stroll through the empty corridors inside London's Natural History Museum to narrow-down and showcase some of the most noteworthy, iconic and bizarre oddities their colossal collection's enormous exhibits have to offer.

This nicely put-together documentary extravaganza gives us a better insight into the expansive range of the numerous, fossilised skeletal specimens (both famous and obscure species) which the massive museum houses in its highly secured, archival storage vaults. For the most part, I thought the photorealistic-CGI reconstructions (used to portray the different types of extinct animals as they may have once acted in real-life) were alright for the majority of the runtime, even if they're a tad bit unconvincing at certain points (I assume it must've probably been something to do with having a few awkward camera angles here and there, making the computer-generated visual effects look a bit off at times).

Honestly, it's not the number one best documentary Attenborough's ever done and I don't really find it to be all that 100% interesting as I do with some of his other 3D-produced programmes; like for instance, the ones where he explores the beautiful Galapagos Islands and talks about the micro-ecosystems dominated by Monster Insects. However, if you want to see him doing something that's a little bit different to what he normally does when he's out in the wilderness hosting as a proper wildlife presenter, then I'd suggest you check this out just to satisfy your own mild curiosity. If it's any consolation, I at least found it to be more entertaining to watch than I did with Werner Herzog's critically-acclaimed Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) which, coincidentally, also went through the 3D process.