112f/1241211604-dinousars1243.jpg
Let’s get to the important stuff first. My 7-year-old nephew loved Walking with Dinosaurs, and other nearby kids who seemed to be about his age appeared similarly excited. That said, the bespectacled know-it-all in the row behind us (approximately 10 or 11 years old) seemed less impressed. To be fair, yes, you can see the legs of the men who wear the raptor costumes, and yes, you can see the stabilizers, complete with semi-visible cockpit-and-driver, underneath all of the bigger dinosaurs, and yes, these aspects were rather conspicuous. None of them, however, bothered my nephew much, and I can rightly say they didn’t really bother me either. For every slightly underwhelming detail I noticed, there were several impressive ones to distract me from caring. For the most part, the dinosaurs’ movement—be it from the human-powered raptor costumes or from the giant, robotic Tyrannosaurus Rex—was pretty convincing. The narrator kept things moving along at a decent clip, and the script was fairly cheese-free. Props to BBC for keeping things mainly factual and scientific, and at about 80 minutes (not including the obligatory merchandizing intermission), the proceedings concluded right about when they should have.

Or, for a more concise review, take it from my nephew Riley:

What did you think of Walking with Dinosaurs overall?

Riley: It was awesome! What time is it?

How realistic were the dinosaurs?

R: Very real, like, 100 percent real. [Minutes later he said that if a dinosaur ate him, he would just go into its stomach and “take control of the robot part.”]

Were you ever scared?

R: No.

Do you think younger kids would be scared?

R: Yeah, but not really scared.

Do you think older people would be bored?

R: Maybe some teenagers, but most people would like it, I think.

There you have it.

Verdict: Go see it, just make sure your kid isn’t sick first.

Photo by Joan Marcus

Grant Brissey covered everything from hard news and technology, to music, film, and visual arts during his time working for The Stranger. Grant's work has also appeared at Geekwire, and in Billboard,...

12 replies on “Dinosaurs!”

  1. I’m totally going. Me and my homey got 5th row seats. Yar!

    When I was I kid all I wanted to be was a paleontologist. When my father found out he told me that it was a stupid idea because by the time I went to college all the bones would be dug up.

    Just ne more reason why I hate my father.

  3. Ha! Sage and I went too, and I think Sage’s opinion was probably much the same. I didn’t hear anything about it being hokey and he sure did take a buttload of pix with his cell phone 😀

    How’s it goin’? Miss ya!

  5. Yeah I went to buy tickets this morning for Sunday’s show and by the time TicketTyrant got through with me it was $266 and change for four seats. I canceled my order. We’ve got the videos – that’ll just have to do.

    I know there are cheaper seats than the ones I was looking into, but I kinda figured it would not be even worth going unless the dinosaurs weren’t right in front of you, especially with kids.

    I’d love to see pictures!

  6. Anyone know what the camera policies for the show are? I would pay the $30-50 price if I could bring my dslr and telephoto lens.

  7. people. if you hate musical swells, of the kind that Cirque du whatevs can’t seem to do without, you will hate this show.

    i took three 11 year olds and they were to a person bored stiff. i just kept cringing at how loud and bad the music was. and the dialogue. forget science people. you will learn NOTHING.

    the big dino’s are impressive, but the small ones, not so much.

    however special props must be given to whoever came up with the “plant life” that was the only thing my son said, “wouldn’t that be cool in our house!” about.

    but with lines like, “Look at these footprints! Now we’re (breathless pause) WALKING WITH DINOSAURS!!!!!!” I wanted to barf.

    really a disappointment compared with the series.

    glad we saw it for free.

  8. Herriman —

    The dinos are so large you can see them from any seat…buy them from the box office directly and there should be no/less service charge.

    Simone — tickets state no photos/videos please — a dslr would probably prompt someone on the arena staff to ask you to put it away. Just an fyi.

    A dino friend

  9. @5 anywhere in the first tier of seats (under the suites) will put you practically in the jaws of the animals.

    @6 they say no flash photography, but didn’t seem to be busting anyone for taking a million flash photos….

Comments are closed.