Search - Dinosaur Planet - Real Big Stories on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 4/1/2024...

Christian Slater does a good job narrating this. The CGI could have been better but it was not bad.

Ayman F. (thebigaym) from AUGUSTA, GA
Reviewed on 1/16/2012...

young dinosaur fans will enjoy this. educational, too! There is death in the videos, so make sure your kids are ready to understand that.

Very good, but WWD has far better animation

H. David Peirce | Houston, TX USA | 01/06/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I am now an expert in dinosaur films and film-making, thanks to my son's undying interest in the prehistoric creatures. We have this, and we have the BBC's Walking With Dinosaurs (WWD) series. Both are TREMENDOUS EDUCATIONAL AND CINEMATIC ACHIEVEMENTS. But I do think WWD is better than this, which is why this only gets 4 stars. (If aliens from another planet saw WWD, they'd think it was real; hence, it gets 5 stars for its realism.)PROS
* The storylines are more "personal" than those in WWD: the dinosaurs have names and the stories make us more sympathetic to their plights* I really like the cut-ins of the paleontologist explaining the evidence they found related to the storyline, the questions that still exist, etc.* Each story is longer than the stories in WWD, which gives us more time to know the charactersCONS
* THE ANIMATIONS ARE *YEARS* BEHIND THE QUALITY OF THE ANIMATIONS IN WWD; the rendering of the dinosaur movement is choppy; they just don't look as real the landscape they inhabit; they don't leave footprints in sandy soil; etc.* Some of the stories actually use landscapes with grass and even flowering grass, neither of which existed until after the age of the dinosaurs* Christian Slater is not Kenneth Branagh (who narrates WWD)PURCHASING RECOMMENDATION
Buy WWD first. The quality of the production far outweighs any advantages Dinosaur Planet might have. But don't hesitate to buy this. It's good. And honestly, 10 years ago, we'd have all watched this and raved about how great it was. We are spoiled by technology..."

Very good, but WWD has far better animation

H. David Peirce | Houston, TX USA | 01/20/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I knock this one star because the animation isn't nearly as good as the animation in Walking With Dinosaurs (WWD) from the BBC. We certainly are spoiled by good animation these days. From WWD to Gollum in the Rings movies, our expectations have been set very high. WWD is so good that it looks like cameras were stuck in the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago. The animation here, made 4 years later, isn't nearly as good.PROS
* Animation is good enough for kids, and I suppose that's the primary audience
* Character-driven plot-lines seem to be more captivating for my young son
* Cut aways to paleontologist describing the fossil findings around which each of the stories are created are fascinatingCONS
* Animation quality: Hey, at least have the dinosaurs leave footprints!
* There was no grass during the age of the dinosaurs, yet lots of grass exists in these episodes
* Some people won't like Christian Slater's slang-filled narration; it is a sharp contrast with the very proper narration from Kenneth Branagh in WWDPURCHASING RECOMMENDATION
Really, the biggest knock against this is animation quality, and that's just not an issue for young kids. SO, BUY THIS! BUT BUY WWD FIRST!WARNING: There are some graphic scenes of carnage. These might disturb young viewers (though they haven't bothered my 5 year old), so parents should screen the episodes first if you are concerned."

My five year old loves it

Heather | 09/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My five year old has had a long running fascination with dinosaurs and we own several of the Discovery Channel films about them. Walking With Dinosaurs is great (I totally recommend it) but more 'heavy' (there's no story line really). Dinosaur Planet is lighter- there's a story and characters, yet it's not like a cutesy cartoon. It also has some new dinosaurs not featured on WWD, for example we've learned a lot about raptors from this movie. My son really loves it, he runs around for hours pretending to be White Tip and Pod. I would say for the child who really loves dinosaurs this is a fun DVD and for the used price WELL worth it."