Dinotasia

Dinosaurs wrestle with pain, loss, grief, depression, regret, drug addiction, and empty nest syndrome in this prehistoric existential melodrama. In this bully-filled story, the giant comet is the biggest bully of all. Contains a lot of bullying carnivores who almost always come out on the bottom of the pile as they constantly bite off more than they can chew. Also, crippled dinosaurs and dinosaurs under the influence of mind-altering substances survive much better than fit and healthy ones. Very accurate portrayal of the laws of nature.

They bill this movie as being based on the most up to date paleontology but it is sorely lacking in information. Just a bunch of contrived scenes with humanized and unidentified dinosaurs but those are lacking even for what they are. A show like Walking with Dinosaurs has the elements of accurate info with fun to watch cgi. Or if you like realistic dinosaurs and a made up story, watch Disney's Dinosaurs (2000). To be fair I only watched half of the movie because it was so awful. Save some time and skip this one. There are some good Dino documentaries out there like Dinosaur Planet, When Dinosaurs Roamed North America, Clash of the Dinosaurs, and of course all of the iterations of Walking with Dinosaurs.

For people who have given poor reviews on this wonderful set of stories "not being a documentary," watch Discovery Channel's "Dinosaur Revolution" (since that is what Dinotasia is adapted from). From Wikipedia: "In 2012, a feature film called Dinotasia was released into theatres, incorporating and expanding upon the footage seen in Dinosaur Revolution. It was designed to be closer to what Dinosaur Revolution was originally conceived as. It is narrated by Werner Herzog."

The CG aspects of this do show the age of the technology of the time, but nevertheless, this is a great experience if you just let yourself get lost in the stories. I don't think I have seen a better attempt at a film trying to recreate the dinosaur past using forensic evidence from fossils and their locations.

In the style of Walking With Dinosaurs, et al, Dinotasia presents a credible CGI depicted speculation of how dinosaur habitation on earth might have played out. Having some experience in the subject, I delighted in the sound paleontology and the accurate prehistory depicted. Some license was taken to infuse a little anthropomorphic appeal into the tale and, consequently, it was like I had a front row seat on a beautifully animated diorama of the age. Starting from the late Permian, it spans the Triassic and Jurassic and on through the early & late Cretaceous periods. Vignettes though they were, I was transfixed by the mini-stories of various dinosaur characters, followed as they struggled to hunt, reproduce, adapt and survive. I found myself even cheering-on several protagonist Tyrannosaurus Rexes, heroes until the end of the late Cretaceous at 65 Ma.

Was it entertainment? Sure. I always have liked Werner Herzog, who narrated the film, though sparsely. Most of it required no narrative but his thick German accent was not distracting to my accustomed ear when it emerged from the soundtrack music...which was terrific too. I recommend it wholeheartedly for pretty much any age group.

Dinotasia is not an educational documentary, it is purely a piece of entertainment. This becomes clear after only a few minutes into the production. If viewed expecting it to be informative and enlightening, you will be disappointed. But for entertainment purposes, as a dinosaur fan I found it very enjoyable. None of the creatures featured are identified by name, so some previous knowledge is expected -- this wasn't a big problem as I was able to identify all but one (and that was possible with a quick internet search).

It is not a serious production. Many of the encounters between species were designed for comedy value, and in most respects, it was a success. While sometimes it may have erred toward humanizing some of the behaviours, they were still kept within acceptable estimates of how the species may have acted. Much of it is still suitably primal and bloody, however.

Werner Herzog's accent is quite distracting but in some ways that adds to the entertainment value. It is quirky and offers a fresh approach to the narration of life in the Mesozoic. It's also kept to a minimum -- most of the production is narrative-free.

Visually it is a little rough in places (especially the beginning) but on the whole, the animation is of decent quality. The pace is fast, if a little haphazard, throwing the viewer into the action rather than spending any time on palaeontological evidence.

If you need facts and science, this is not for you. But if you're in the mood for a light-hearted perspective of how dinosaurs may have lived, this is highly entertaining. At least until the conclusion of the Cretaceous Period, for which I've still yet to see an upbeat depiction.