Walking With Dinosaurs (3)

The 50-minute making of documentary is quite informative and enjoyable, and it is interesting to hear not only how the models, puppets, and computer graphics were made and deployed, but also that, in trying to animate the dinosaurs, the animators helped resolve much of the problems that paleontologists had with understanding how certain dinosaurs moved on land, and in the air. The two most interesting sequences are when a scientist declares that an elephant’s movements are not right for a Diplodocus because a) the elephant is smaller, and b) the elephant is a thinking animal, whereas Diplodocus was not; and when various methods are tried to understand how the Ornithocheirus tried to walk, when not in flight. Another interesting feature is an inset feature, during the documentary, where certain effects are discussed while the documentary plays on.All in all, Walking With Dinosaurs is a delightful DVD, and one that children and adults can enjoy. There is some violence displayed, but nothing any more violent than what regularly occurs on real nature documentaries, so enjoy your trip back into the past. Until time travel is invented, it is the best you’ll be able to do.