Dinosaurs Alive (2007) User Reviews

Lackluster - don't bother with this one.

[scottyr · 3/10 · 16 June 2008]

I've recently taken my two sons to see this at my local science center, and all of us were very disappointed with Dinosaurs Alive! This very dry documentary mainly focuses on archaeologists in 1920s Mongolia and modern day New Mexico. CG dino scenes were not only sparse and short (why call this film Dinosaurs Alive if you're not going to focus on them?), but the special effects were poor. I've seen effects on Discovery Channel specials and cheaply-done Sci-Fi network movies that far exceeded what was in this movie. Come to think of it, I would have rather watched the Discovery Channel's "Walking with Dinosaurs" on my TV than this big screen snooze.

Occasionally there was a beautiful, panoramic shot of some cliffs or a desert vista; but other than this there wasn't much redeeming about this film. If it's still playing at an IMAX theater near you, go see something else.

Waste of time, money and film

[darkfulfillment · 1/10 · 4 September 2007]

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.

Dinosaurs Dead!

[awastie · 2/10 · 8 January 2010]

I think every young boy goes through the stage of dinosaur obsession at some point. I certainly did and my two boys can't get enough of them either. So along comes "Dinosaurs Alive! 3D." Now this should be a summer holiday winner - it's got dinosaurs...perfect. They are presented alive...tick that box. AND it's in 3D...should be awesome!! What could go wrong? Everything.

Firstly the Dinosaurs. A more appropriate title for this would be Palaeontologists Alive! This IMAX film spends way too much time following the exciting exploits of a couple of grad students travelling to deserts and digging holes. Sure, there are a few spots where we see some dinos - often just walking on the spot as some sort of graphic. But if you want wall to wall dinosaurs forget it. This is just a documentary mainly pitched at adults...and quite a boring one too.

Now for the "Alive!". Nah. They're dead. Really dead. Fossil dead. We see fossils. Lots of them. It's about finding fossils it the desert. Again we get a bit of dinosaur action here and there, but even that's to illustrate how they died. Putting the word Alive (with an exclamation mark if you don't mind) in the title is a bit rich.

And the 3D. The 3D effects are good as they always are at IMAX. There were a couple of good T-Rex roaring in your face moments and one bit had me jumping in my seat. But mainly the 3D is used to show titles, footage from the 20s in front of a desert, and how a palaeontologist uses a little brush to find a fossil. At one point is shows how far apart 5 palaeontologists sit from each other. Basically, there is no real point for this to be 3D. At one point one of my boys took the glasses off. I told him to put them back on. He replied "What for?" Enough said.

So, if your kid has a dinosaur obsession take him to this...if you want to stop it. This film engages in everything boring about dinosaurs. It's a stinker. Use your hard earned money to hire Jurassic Park or, if you want a doco, Walking With Dinosaurs. You'd probably go better with Land Before Time in fact. This just isn't worth it.

If you have little ones into dinosaurs, I recommend

[frankp127 · 8/10 · 14 June 2007]

This movie is pretty good for kids and especially in 3D which is how we saw it. There is a lot of science but my two boys are now spending time on 'digs' in our yard. Thedinosaur fight scenes are great and the dinosaurs aren't too scary but are still very realistic. I've seen quite a few IMAX movies and this one is one of the better ones. My boys would say the best one. 3D is getting better with new technology and this movie proves that it has come a long way. Michael Douglas is OK with the narration. If you are a parent or teacher, I recommend this dinosaur movie, but see it in the theater because it works best to see the dinosaurs IMAX size(or close to it). Eight collective thumbs up from my family of four.

Nothing new, horrible effects

[wwhitbeck · 1/10 · 19 May 2007]

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.

Poor IMAX experience

[johnkrull · 1/10 · 4 December 2010]

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).

From a non-expert perspective, this was not a powerful watch

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 10 May 2017]

"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.

Enjoyable!

[sallydaverman · 9/10 · 14 June 2007]

I took my 6 year old daughter to see this film at the California Science Center and we both really enjoyed it. The 3D glasses really make the Dinosaurs jump out and off the screen. We both jumped in our seats more than once! The film is short, only about 40 minutes long or so, but that is the length of most of the IMAX film I have seen at the Science Center. The film does contain a lot of educational material, which is interesting to learn about, especially when you are taken back in time to see the very real looking dinosaurs walking around in Mongolia and New Mexico.

If you get a chance to see this movie I would recommend it. It is fun, and won't take up 2 hours of your day.