Rating: 
Summary: An awesome and monumental achievement
Review: I had first seen this series on the Discovery channel quite by accident. I was channel surfing one Sunday night, flipping through different combinations of a 100+ different channels when I flashed across something that caught my attention. Having backtracked to the channel, I saw a spectacular scene of a dinosaur that was standing by an ancient ocean soon become the meal of a monstrous reptile. This massive reptile turned out to be some 25 meters in length and weighed something like 150 tons. From that point on I was glued to the television and watched the rest of the entire series. Needless to say, I bought the video. This video documentary of computer generated dinosaurs and ancient reptiles is a masterpiece of anything of its kind. It is brilliantly narrated and very well put together in a documentary style much like the other documentaries that air on the Discovery Channel. Of course, nobody really knows how these magnificent beasts existed, but this video surely has done a splendid job of portraying these beasts of how they could have lived. I highly recommend this video to anyone who has wondered how these animals lived. One thing is for sure after viewing this video, man would not be the master of the planet as he is today if these beasts still existed. The dinosaurs were truly the rulers of the world.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining despite the FX flaws
Review: It was interesting in the sense that it displays the ecology of these species, but contrary to the other posters, the FX are NOT superior to Jurassic Park. It looks like the CG models aren't even made as a single body structure since the geometry of the legs and the torso INTERSECT each other as if each piece had its own set of skin. ALOT. Most of the composite shots don't have near the complexity of tracking with the background compared to the Jurassic Park movies, most of the shots are static or with the dino feet not visible. And some of the lighting of the dinos did not correspond correctly with the way the background was lit.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting series, great CGI
Review: This series of documentaties on how dinosaurs may have lived and died is good overall, but has some flaws which are also pretty glaring.The best part about the series are the Dinos themselves, superbly rendered and they move like the actual animals probably did move, based on their skeletal structure. Watching this series is like watching "Jurassic Park" There are some really great sequences, including the swimming dinosaurs, a stegasaurus grazing, and the life cycle T. rex. The "making of" documentary provided on the second disk explains how the animators worked out how the dinosaurs probably moved based on their skeletal structure, and also explains other aspects of the Dino's lifestyle and how the paleontologists arrived at some of the speculations presented in the series. The series blends fact and speculation so closely that you never sure how well established some of the narrator's statements are. (Did some carnivores really eat their young at times? for example.) I would have prefered an option to turn off the narrator and just watch an episode with the sounds of the Dinos and the wonderful soundtrack. The final episode was the worst in terms of scientific implausibility. There are two prevailing theories on the Dinosaur extinction - widespread volcanic activity which caused a cooling of the Earth, or an asteroid collision, which did the same. The documentary pretends that both events occurred, which is unlikely. They should have just chosen one scenario and used it. Also there is another theory put forth by the authors of "Nutrition and Evolution" that the biggest cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs (and a lot of other species at the time) were the dinosaurs themselves. Just as we are outstripping our bounds now and destroying the environment in the process, they argue that the dinosaurs must have done the same, considering that just one large herbivorous dino would have to eat several tons of plant life each day for sustenance - and there were millions of them. Talk about deforestation...
Rating:
Summary: Speculation + computerized eye-candy--but I loved it!
Review: It is absolutely amazing that paleontology and computer animation are so advanced that programs like this are possible. While watching it, I laughed a lot--in delight, surprise, and at the occasional howler. Howlers first: Like any other reptile, Postosuchus had eyes on the sides, not the front, of its head. So therefore it would not have swiveled its head like a monkey to peer this way and that, to see if the coast is clear. It already had about 100 degrees viewing angle on each side. Additionally, Iguanodon chicks would be highly unlikely to have tumbled and frolicked like puppies. There's only so much complex behavior you can cram into a brain the size of a golf ball, which has little in the way of frontal lobes to boot. Finally, I was disappointed that there was no segment on crested dinosaurs. It would have been interesting to hear all the different nasal honks those crests produced. Each episode contains one or two life and death scenarios for the beasties involved. The life cycles of the Diplodocus and the Ophthalmosaurus are especially well realized, if necessarily a bit fanciful. The computer animations are in most instances convincing, in particular the underwater scenes. Watching the gigantic Liopleurodon loom out of the depths is impressive. And there are plenty of toothy carnosaurs to thrill to. What's funny is how some parts of the program are produced in imitation of real nature documentaries. We soar alongside a pterosaur, like a cameraman in an ultralight filming migrating geese. Spotlights on the sea floor illuminate the Jurassic reef and its creatures. And, cutest of all, the night scenes of the Cynodont are rendered to look like infrared film footage, as if we were viewing a National Geographic film of a Serengeti watering hole at night. Agree or disagree with this program's reconstructions of dinosaurs' appearance and behavior, you'll watch every minute of it.
Rating:
Summary: The Dinosaurs Live Again
Review: This series is clever mix of science and drama with a simple goal: to bring the dinosaurs and their world back to life and let us see what it was like. There is certainly a lot that we don't know about these animals and any show is going to require a lot of speculation on this subject. What "Walking with Dinosaurs" does with this speculation is the most entertaining and visually stunning achievement with this material to date. The CGI and animatronics used here go well beyond Jurassic Park and others, not surprisinng, since CGI has grown in sophistication over the years. (7 Years is an eternity in CGI). What really distinguishes this show is the beautiful and dramatic way the Great Beasts are offered to us. Nobody has ever brought us so close and the animals themselves are really engaging. I enjoyed it a lot and everyone I know who have seen it have loved it as much as I did. For entertainment it can't be beat. What a fun show this is!
Rating: 
Summary: A mockery of science.
Review: I know that this review will gain me quite a few enemies. I don't care. It must be said. Walking With Dinosaurs is one of the worst shows I've ever seen, riddled with inaccuracies. To show that I'm not some stupid know-it-all, I have a list of its wrongdoings. Episode 1: First off, neither Placerias nor Postosuchus were cold-blooded. They weren't even reptiles. Postosuchus was a Psuedosuchian, an ancestor of the dinosaurs, who were also not reptiles. Placerias was a Protomammal, the predecessors of modern mammals. This episode also starts off the depressing and infuriating anti-dinosaur, pro-mammal bias that is carried on throughout the series. Episode 2: This was the worst. First of all, Diplodocus DID NOT LAY EGGS. The newborns were one-fifth the size of adults, too large to be layed in an egg. The large pelvic opening on females supports this. They were born live. And that's not the only unforgivable flaw. The point on the skull where it meets the neck is at a right angle, meaning that if it walked around with its neck stretched out, it would be perpetually staring at the ground. Not only that, but it suffers from a problem which effects almost every dino in the series: croc lips. Look at the skull, and you'll see tiny holes along the jaws. These are where the blood vessels and nerves went into the lips and cheeks, so that their food never fell out while eating. One last diplodocus flaw is herd structure. In the series, the herd is spread out and loose. Fossil trackways show that they walked with adults on the outside, protecting the young in the center. Episode 3: Not too many in thos one, except the croc lips and the floppy-winged Rhamphorynchs. Their wings were reinforced with tendon and muscle, and were stronger than they look. Episode 4: A huge case of self-contradiction. According to the narrator, dinosaurs are reptiles. Now watch the Utahraptors. The animators really got it right. They move exactly like birds. Episode 5: Not much, except for the usual reptile garbage. The muttaburrasaurus just didn't look real. Episode 6: While I just can't hate anything with a Rex in it, this episode is terrible. Take a look at those "Dromeosaurs". They look more like Deinonychus, except for the fact that Deinonychus was already extinct by the time T-rex came on the scene. Dromeosaurs have more squarish heads. Quetzalcoatlus was far too small, also. And the ending. GOD, I hate the ending! And it's not just the ending, but throughout the whole episode is the depressing sense of doom, up to the end where they blatantly show the dinosaurs as big, stupid, doomed beasts, forever destined to be overthrown by the ever-industrious mammal. I'd also like to say that the meteor theory is the most implausible load of garbage theory I've ever heard. In conclusion, this series is a mess of lies, self-contradictions, anti-reptile(and bird) bias, and glaring inaccuracies whoes only redeeming quality is the CGI. And even that's not the best. I saw better CGI in the Filter "Take A Picture" video.
Rating:
Summary: Walking with Dinosaurs
Review: I loved this video because of the great animation and computer effects. I learned a lot from the video. I always wanted to learned about the dinosaurs on how they lived and survived before they became extincted. I would recommened to get this video,so you can see the excitment and the sadness of this video.
Rating:
Summary: DON'T MISS THIS SERIES! It's absolutely amazing!
Review: "Walking With Dinosaurs" is the kind of documentary that digital and other high tech methods of animation were made for! Granted, Spielberg used some similar methods to good effect in his dino-films "Jurassic Park" and "Lost World," but "Walking With Dinosaurs" is the current apex of animation technology for exctinct animals, and used for education, too! I sat in awe as I watched these six wonderful segments on the natural history of dinosaurs produced by the BBC. I was particularly impressed by the segment on marine reptiles -- a group that receives relatively little press, since they're not dinos, and since they don't interact with most peoples' favorites, like T. rex, Allosaurus, or Stegosaurus, etc. Never had I seen recreations of dinosaurs that were as life-like and convincing (except for the occasional animatronic effect) as the ones in this video. Watching these segments about different time periods, places, and groups of dinosaurs I was once again reminded and impressed by the long reign of these animals on the earth. I also thought that many aspects of their biology and ecology were interestingly presented. No one was, of course, around to see what these animals actually did, so the way dinos are presented in the video are unavoidably informed guesses about how we think that these now extinct animals lived. I applaud the author and producer for their fine efforts! Viewers should be aware, however, that there is a large and convincing alternative body of information (backed by a significant number of paleontologists) that suggests that carnivorous dinosaurs like Allosaurus, T. rex, and even Utahraptor did not run down their prey, bring them down, and kill them like a giant lion would -- i.e., overpowering and killing their prey immediately. The alternative proposal about how the meateaters did their business is akin to the way that monitor lizards, like the Komodo Dragon, bring down their prey. Dragons inflict a slashing bite, even a relatively small one on their prey. When they do that bacteria that live on their teeth are introduced into the prey's body. After a while the prey animal succumbs to the bacterial infection and the dragon can eat at will. Granted, this method of attack and subjugation is less dramatic than the hunt and kill method portrayed a couple of times in this video series, but it's an equally if not even more convincing story about how large meat eaters may well have done their business. Those kinds of academic debates aside, this is a wonderful, brilliant series. The imagery is excellent, the soundtrack is supportive and enhancing, and the narration is outstanding! I will watch this series again and again. 5 stars all the way! Alan Holyoak, Ph.D., Dept of Biology, Manchester College, IN
Rating:
Summary: Chain of Life
Review: While this video may not be for all ages (due to carniverous goings on), it is the best presentation of life in the age of dinosaurs on land, sea and air ever presented. The largest predators are shown becoming food for much smaller scavengers due to accident, wound or weather. Life was perilous but magnificent, survival was paramount. The special effects are incredible and all sizes of life are covered, from the giants of the sea (150 tons) to the smallest insects feeding on Diplodocus. I would recommend this to anyone interested in paleontology or dinosaurs with a slight warning to parents to be sure to watch with their children at least at first viewing.
Rating:
Summary: A Journey to the Time of the Dinosaurs
Review: An incredidble simulation of the time of the dinosaurs. Ultimate movie for anyone who loves dinosaurs.
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