Ah yes, I still remember what a big deal it was when back in 1999 the BBC series "Walking with Dinosaurs" first aired. Not that I ever was much impressed with it though. I obviously had already seen "Jurassic Park" at that point and the special effects just weren't up to par with it. Besides, I thought that it was stupid how it was shot just like a wild life documentary, including narration, telling and showing things as if they were actual facts, while it was all a fake of course and there is no way for us to check how dinosaurs truly lived, looked and behaved liked in the wild life, over 65 millions years ago. Having said that, this movie has absolutely nothing to do with the BBC series though!
Seriously, all that this movie has in common with its TV predecessor is the title. Everything else about it is entirely different. This movie isn't shot or told like a documentary but just as a normal standard movie instead, with a script and characters who can talk. This isn't a good thing though, seeing how both the script and voice acting is incredibly lacking in this movie.
I'm actually somewhat confused by this movie. It started off as one that still would be teaching kids about all of the different dinosaurs and stuff but however as the movie progressed, it just becomes nothing but a standard and formulaic dinosaur flick instead, that teaches us absolutely nothing about its subjects. So what's the point of this movie? To simply bring some entertainment? Well, it totally fails at that as well. It isn't a particularly entertaining or surprising movie to watch. Just the standard story of a bunch of dinosaurs traveling from point A to B, while of course coming across some bigger and more dangerous dinosaurs. But somehow there is also still time for a love-story to develop of course. Thank goodness for that...
Nothing in the movie ever gets handled very well. Not the comedy, not the characters and not the story or any of its developments. It actually feels like a very lazy movie, that spend all of its time and money on its effects but forget all about its script. It's actually amazing to me that this movie apparently had cost around $80,000,000 to make but they agreed on a script that seemed more suitable for a $80 cartoon episode. It's just that formulaic and standard, including the comedy and characters who are all in it.
Its effects aren't all that impressive anyway. Certainly nothing new or game changing. It all would have been acceptable for straight to DVD kids movie or for one that would had been made over 15 years ago but for a $80,000,000 modern theatrical release? I really don't think so. It's totally unacceptable, though at the same time, it still also isn't the worst looking movie you'll ever see.
Movies that treat animals as if they are human beings, with human needs and thoughts, are annoying anyway. This movie is no exception. The movie and its characters are constantly referencing and talking about stuff normally only modern humans would care and think about. It's all stupid, lame and insulting to watch really. And 'it's just a kids movie' isn't a valid excuse for any of its lazy writing, it's lack of creativity and its failed attempts at comedy
Thing that also often bothers me about animated movies is the voice acting. The actors never respond convincingly to the different situations, most likely because the movie wasn't fully finished yet when they recorded their lines. And they never interact very convincing to each other either, most likely because all of the different actors recorded their lines in separate rooms, on separate days from each other. Besides, none of the voices impressed me, despite the fact that there are some pretty well known voice actors in the movie. Tiya Sircar especially bothered and annoyed me with her voice. It's such an incredibly standard sounding girl voice, which doesn't sound like much of a complaint but for some reason it annoyed me beyond belief.
I know I'm sounding harsh but it's just that this movie is such an incredibly standard and formulaic one, that makes absolutely no attempt to ever become an original or surprising one with anything. Really can't say that it's one of the worst movies of the year but it obviously isn't worth seeing either.
5/10
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