Clevercell
Very disappointing...
Curapedi
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
Loui Blair
It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Dinosaurs Alive" is a 40-minute documentary from 2007, so this one has its 10th anniversary this year. The people who made this are Emmy winner David Clark and Oscar nominee Bayley Silleck. The title makes it pretty obvious what this one is about of course. So if you care about dinosaurs or paleontology, this one may very well be worth it. Or you will be especially disappointed because you find the lack of depth here really irritating. Depends on you I guess. I myself as someone with not too much interest in the subject must say that none of the aspects made me curious about the subject. Still I have watched dinosaur documentaries in the past that were clearly superior to this one here. No surprise that this one is not among the most known IMAX documentaries out there, but really goes more under the lesser known. Narrator and Oscar winner Michael Douglas is not really making things better as he has way too much text to be honest and you can't blame him for it. It seems as if they were trying to make up for lack of information by having Douglas (admittedly a huge star) talking random stuff all the time. And the reenactment scenes were just as uninteresting as the paleontologists we see and find out about. Thumbs down from me. Not recommended.
John Krull
This movie shows about 2 minutes of recreations of dinosaurs actually being alive. My son, who loves dinosaurs, thought the movie was OK, at best. 95% of the 40 minute movie includes shots of deserts and badlands from the air or boring, staged interviews with scientists. Calling the film "Dinosaurs Alive" is misleading, to say the least. For me, it was the worst IMAX movie I've ever seen and hardly deserves to be even put on the screen.We saw it at the Chabot Science Center in Oakland and it cost the two of us $25. Luckily that included entrance to the center which helped improve the experience (a bit - but that's for another review).
darkfulfillment
Checked this one out over the weekend trying to beat the heat. My time and money would have been better spent opening a hydrant and paying the fine. Out-of-focus boredom, from start to finish. The effects were pure 1991 Discovery Channel. Most of the film was spent watching paleontologists and students digging in the dirt. How utterly fascinating. I came away learning more about the canopies they use in Mongolian digs than I did about dinosaurs.The kids in the audience seemed really bored, too. The advertising sets this up as being chockful of dinos, but they're few and far between.Save your $10.50 (or whatever the overpriced IMAX tix run at your local science center). This is the "Battlefied Earth" of IMAX movies.
wwhitbeck
Don't just walk away from this clunker - run! There is nothing new at all covered in this sub par documentary styled fiasco. Any child that's studied dinosaurs in grade school already knows what this one's all about.The opening sequence was a great indication of what was yet to come - cartoonish dinosaurs do battle - and manage to walk across a sandy plain without leaving a single footprint.Then the movie resorts to shots we've all seen hundreds of times - yep dinosaur skeletons. Again, nothing new.But wait, next we are going to go on a real dig - in Mongolia. At first you think at least the scenery shots will be fantastic, but they are out of focus, totally taking that away from the experience.More disappointment as we move to Mexico and more blurry scenery and lack of story.Intersperse these shots with incredibly horrible CGI shots of water and sand floods - I'm talking incredibly bad effects. First year students would do at least 20x better.Also be warned before you shell out your hard earned money - this is one short movie.Definite skip.
