Dinotasia (2012)

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Blistering performances.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This is the main problem I have with this movie: It is not what it says it is. This is not a documentary, this is an anthology film based on black comedy and taking place millions of years ago. To be honest with you,it is a good comedy, but I cannot appreciate it because of how far it is of what it pretends to be.Overall, it is a great time with a lot of fun moments. Yes, CGI is quite bad, but you get used to it pretty fast and the characters have much more development that in a lot of movies even though they cannot talk and the narration is almost nonexistent. Unfortunately, the movie, as a whole, is brought down by its lack of honesty with the audience.

This is an awful film in light of what it claims to be: a documentary making use of the latest research. There is no narration to provide you any information, save for a few "philosophical" comments from Herzog. There is no discernible aim, narrative, or point to the film. It is extremely disingenuous and unprofessional to claim something is based on research and then not provide even the slightest information about what that research is. The viewer is shown a number of different types of dinosaurs, though we are never told their species. You can identify vaguely what family they belong to: sauropods, raptors, tyrannosaurs, etc. There is no real explanation of the temporal or geographical context. No information is provided about the dinosaurs or their behavior. This film is just pure fantasy with a nihilistic perspective showing dinosaurs slaughtering each other left and right to the point that one wonders how any species managed to survive for any period of time. Spoilers ahead...At one point two tyrannosaur type dinosaur parents look on their tiny, vulnerable babies fondly as they play. The babies then run off and get eaten without the parents even batting an eye until it is done. Animals that produce few offspring need to parent them more than animals that produce large numbers of offspring in order to ensure the survival of the species. The viewer watches as some species of pteranodon pushes its babies off a cliff to teach them to fly only to watch them be snatched up mid air by other pteranodons. Just ridiculous. At another point a sauropod eats hallucinogenic mushrooms. The viewer is treated to the animals perspective. Apparently dinosaur eyes perceived light and color in the exact same way as a human eye. Also interesting that 3 mushrooms have the same effect on an 80 ton sauropod as on a 130lbs human. Most of the dinosaurs are not well rendered either. The two-legged predators are mostly OK, but any of the four legged species look horrible. There locomotion is all wrong. This is just utter ridiculousness. I watched it thinking that it must be a joke. The only point I can discern is this: there are dinosaurs, they killed other dinosaurs or got killed until a meteor hit. I'm still not convinced this film isn't a joke of some sort. Is it? Did I miss something?If you want a well research documentary with lots of CGI dinosaurs, watch the excellent "Walking with Dinosaurs" done by the BBC.

This is an odd little movie. Although the animation and layout of the film might make you think that this is going to be a straight-up documentary like the BBC's "Walking With..." series, "Dinotasia" is more like a series of vignettes surrounding the experiences of a few individual dinosaurs (a pterosaur learning to fly, a tyrannosaurus couple defending their territory, etc.). Although Werner Herzog is cast as the narrator, he barely speaks at all, though he usually introduces each vignette with a few short lines, but these are more related to the theme of the narrative rather than scientific facts.Although it comes off a bit cartoonish at times and might turn off people who came in expecting a true documentary, "Dinotasia" is quite an enjoyable viewing experience. At the very least, it's the world's first and only black comedy that can boast photo-realistic animated dinosaurs!

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.