Walking with Dinosaurs: The Movie

The original six-part BBC-aried natural history series Walking with Dinosaurs was superb, but as a feature film is suffers from silly, anthropomorphized characters and a weak plot. The setup has an archeologist (Karl Urban) taking his niece (Angourie Rice) and nephew (Charlie Rowe) on a dig in Alaska, where he discovers a dinosaur tooth. The boy is so disinterested that he stays in the SUV, texting, until a talking bird (voiced by John Leguizamo) transports the audience back 70 million years to where Patchi (Justin Long)—a young Pachyrhinosaurus who lost part of his frill to a winged carnivore—head-butts with his brawny older brother Scowler (Skyler Stone), vying for leadership of the herbivore herd on its southern migration during the late Cretaceous period. As clever, curious Patchi searches for food and a mate, he's determined to survive threats from predators and forest fires. Naturally, there's a villain here: Gorgon the Gorgosaurus, a two-and-a-half-ton omnivore that—thankfully—doesn't talk. On the plus side, the photo-realistic animation is magnificent—set against beautiful Alaskan/New Zealand wilderness backgrounds—and each of the dinosaur species is clearly identified. But the forced dialogue is ridiculous: how would dinosaurs know about ninjas, and why would they reference God? Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include an “Ultimate Dino Guide” segment (20 min.), the brief “Nickelodeon Orange Carpet Dino Rap,” a “Match the Call” game, an interactive map, a “Brainosaur” trivia track, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a forgettable film.] (S. Granger)