March of the Dinosaurs (2012)

This film, from the makers of the even more stunning series "Walking With Dinosaurs", is a pure cinematic documentary delight. For a film on a television budget, it is a first class production that shows in every frame. The story is very simple as mentioned in the synopsis on this page: a herd of Edmontosaurs must migrate in the harsh arctic land. In a way, it is the same kind of story featured in films like The Land Before Time and Disney's Dinosaur. However, unlike both of those films, this really is a documentary, with no "talking dinosaurs", only narration by the wonderful Stephen Fry. While it features some educated guesses in areas in terms of accuracy (like most documentaries of this type do), it is the visual spectacle and drama that should be the main focus here. You really get involved with the cast of dinosaurs as they each go through different struggles in this harsh and unlikely landscape. The cinematography here is not typical for a film like this, with the camera always moving and gliding through the scenery and following the dinosaurs. This production is entirely CGI, which makes this kind of camera work possible for the story. While the animation is generally very well-done, I admit that it often never feels entirely "real". It looks and feels more like a stylized experience of the past, which can be seen as a good and a bad thing all at the same time. There are some great segments of tension and action thrown in for good measure that will keep viewers young and old at the edge of their seat. The music was also good and served the film well. Honestly, if you are in the mood for an informative, different, engaging, and excitingly cinematic dinosaur film, this is one that you will definitely not want to miss.

As for this particular Blu-Ray (imported from the UK), the image and sound come across quite well. I can confirm here that Amazon's statement of this film being a Region Free (ABC) disc are correct. I have a Region A player and the film played flawlessly. However, it must be noted that other aspects of this disc will NOT work flawlessly for everyone. The bonus features (Storyboards/Making of) may NOT work on a Region A player or US television due to the way the bonus features are encoded (in PAL I believe, since they are standard definition unlike the main feature film). However, try playing these bonus features on your computer/laptop's Blu-Ray drive (if you have one) and they may work (as they do on mine). Just a tip. However, even if your TV can't play those bonus features mentioned, it CAN still access the commentary track in the audio menu, so it's not a complete loss. The commentary track was fairly well-done, although I wished it had been a bit more informative.

Whatever you do, do NOT purchase the DVD of "The Great Dinosaur Escape", which is what this movie is sometimes retitled. National Geographic took this film and re-cut it and used a different narrator for it's shorter edit. Skip it. This Blu-Ray here is the real edition of this film, and I'm sure looks much better and has better narration and pacing.

So, dinosaur fans, no need to guess if this disc belongs in your collection (or if it will play on your player or not). This film is a realistic version of The Land Before Time and what Disney's Dinosaur was supposed to be. Seek this one out!

Awesome dinosaur movie, I would highly recommend it. A nice change of pace from the usual dinosaur documentary a must buy for dino lovers.

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