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Walking With Prehistoric Beasts

Walking With Prehistoric Beasts

List Price: $14.97
Your Price: $13.47
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: excellent, if not mystifying!
Review: For those who are fascinated with prehistoric beasts, as I am, you must purchase this video!

My friends often comment that I spend too much of my leisure time inundating myself, my thoughts, my being, and my soul with prehistoric beast videos. But, this one is the best ever.

After watching it the other night with my other pre-historic beast buddies, Danny, Shaun, and Jacob, I emerged from that viewing with a renewed sense of purpose from the veritable deluge of prehistoric beast anecdotes and tidbits.

Indeed, the producer of this video has opened the floodgates of prehistoric beast research and is sure to bathe you in Jurassic delight as you take in the breathtaking imagery that pervades throughout this wonderful video.

Be sure to purchase and play this video for YOUR next prehistoric beast party!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is great!
Review: Great documentry about Dinasours, wasn't a subject I was interested in, but have watched this video several times and enjoyed is over and over.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Entertaining, BUT
Review: I bought this having seen it on satellite TV and knowing its weakness, but hoping that it might be corrected on the DVD. First of all, the animation is superior, and the beasts and their stories are even more interesting than Walking with Dinosaurs. Maybe it's because they were more closely related to us, but I found the stories generally more compelling. However, my only complaint is that the scientific context could have been so much better. For example, creatures that have no living relatives are described on the show, but there is no mention of when we believe they perished and why they might have been an evolutionary dead end. I would have found it interesting to show where the various animals fit in a graphic timeline, and in a "family tree" showing what they are believed to have become and when. In other words, these wonderful stories and animation could have done a better job of showing us what scientific evidence they are based on. They are entertaining, and wonderful to watch for children or adults. On the second DVD, there is general talk about methodology of paleontologists, BUT it is not tied very well to the creatures we saw in the series. Also, for example, there is talk about South America breaking off of Antarctica and evenually bumping into North America, but this process could have been showed so much more effectively with a simple animation tied to a timeline.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Buy the DVD - forget the VHS!
Review: I didn't watch the Discovery Channel presentation of "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts" because their visual trick of interrupting the story with "scientific tidbits" drives me crazy. Instead I waited for the video, which I hoped would be in the BBC style (just the story, no talking heads). Imagine my surprise when the video version WAS the Discovery Channel version, not the BBC version. Thankfully, the DVD is the BBC version - complete with Kenneth Brannagh narration - with the option of seeing the other [stuff] if you want it.

I'd give the DVD 5 stars instead of 4 if I didn't have any issues with the production quality. (Actually I'd give the DVD 4 and 1/2 stars, but the rating system here doesn't allow for half stars.) The production values of "Walking with Dinosaurs" were so good that most of the time it looked like I was watching a documentary on dinosaurs, filmed with living dinosaurs. "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts" looked a little more to me like puppets/animatronics than did "Dinosaurs" however, hence the slightly lower score. It's still well worth owning, very minor flaws and all.

Now what I really want to see from the BBC/Discovery Channel partnership is a series about the time before the dinosaurs, which I guess is early-mid Paleozoic Era. That would be way cool.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Birds get no respect
Review: I don't recall anyone ever saying that the entire Phorusrhacidae was out-competed and driven into extinction by one genus of sabercat. Especially since Phorusrhacos went extinct MILLIONS OF YEARS before Smilodon ever existed.

I liked the look of the guys (Phorurhacos) though. And I was impressed that they gave 'em Titanis/Andalgalornis-type wing claws. (Though I'm not sure they would've been that flexible.) But there is no way a nine-foot bird with an axe for a head would be scared away by one cat.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a Serious look at the worlds that were
Review: I finally got the third instalment of the "walking with" series. I couldn't wait til this film was released on DVD when I caught it on Discovery channel. First let me say that I am glad there are those out there who like to treat the portayal of prehistoric beasts seriously and not as Disney talking characters or Jurassic Park man-eating monsters. The documentary style of Prehistoric Beasts attests to how much the filmmakers value the paleontological finds of recent years. Now is the film %100 accurate in every aspect? No. Is every animated frame perfect with regards to special FX? not really. But as a whole it is a wonderfull learning and entertaining piece. The scenes with the giant rhino ancestors are awe-inspiring. The saber tooth cat comes to life like never before, and of course you have the famous mammoths stumping around the prehistoric badlands. Even those interested in movie FX will want this DVD along with the other 2 in the series as part of their library.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great, fun and educational.
Review: I have never seen, "Walking with Dinosours" but this film blew me away, someone let me borrow it, and I thought it would be boring. But it is great. If anyone reading this likes The Clan Of The Cave Bear, this film helps you really see Ayla and how her surroundings were! Fantastic, didn't want to stop watching. Even funny in some parts! Highly reccomended!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: As real as it gets
Review: I love films that mix extinct animals with nature television. This is just as good as Walking with Dinosaurs which is one of my favorite films. It as amazing special effects just as real as Walking with Dinosaurs. Walking with Prehistoric Beasts begins with the extinction of the dinosaurs and goes through the evolutionary history for the last 65 million years. It includes several strange and amazing creatures that lived after the dinosaurs. It has ancient whales, giant terror birds, hyenas the size of rhinos, and rhinos the size of three elephants. Walking with Prehistoric Beasts has action packed hunting scenes and fights. The problem is it depicts the sloths eating meat (which they didn't do) and annoying slow motion shots. This is presented in 1.78 anamorphic widscreen with a clean flawless transfer. It only has 2.0 stereo sound unfortunutly I think 5.1 doby digital should be standard for all DVDs. This 2-disc DVD has two 50 minute making of documentaries with a hilarious end. This is one great film a movie that will leave your mouth open.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Just as spectacular as Walking with Dinosaurs!
Review: I love this DVD- it's just plain as real as it gets. Incredible film locations, and great animation. Walking with Prehistoric Beasts is a interesting, exciting documentary taking you into the world of the distant past. I recommend it to all ages who don't mind some killing scenes, blood scenes, or anything like that.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An amazing dvd documentary
Review: I love watching nature programs and have been fascinated with dinosaurs and prehistoric animals since I was a child. When this program aired on television, I was blown away with the quality and the education that this documentary provide. This is worth having on dvd because of the great special effects and the education value it can have for people of all ages. It teaches us about prehistoric man and the animals around him by entertaining us with eye popping visuals. I highly recommend this to anyone!


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