When in Manila, walk with dinosaurs and learn one of the greatest life lessons that might lead you to the end of your search for success and happiness.  

Walking with dinosaurs in this age of selfies and Instagram is clearly no longer possible. We can only dream of having a selfie with a dinosaur. Who wouldn’t want to walk with dinosaurs with their gigantic size, sharp teeth and thick skin – seriously? Well, 20th Century Fox and Reliance Entertainment bring us the Walking with Dinosaurs: 3D Movie, so we can experience what it was like to live millions of years ago when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.

A Saturday screening schedule makes this movie perfect for kids and kids at heart. A friend and I found ourselves seated in the cinema with families and kids as the story of Patchi (Justine Long), a Pachyrhinosaurus, unfolds. Patchi’s adventures, as narrated by Alex (John Leguizamo),  (a fun and affable bird), started at a young age when he got a hole in his frill – which made it easier for viewers to locate Patchi in the pack. He had escaped death (a couple of times), fell in-love, doubted himself and made the right decisions in order to survive. 

We found it easy to connect with Patchi as his walk (aka migration) brought trials into his life – including that of losing a father, growing sibling rivalry with Scowler  (Skyler Stone) – who literally and figuratively looks down at Patchi) – and falling in-love with Juniper (Tiya Sircar).

 

My Review on Walking with Dinosaurs

The movie is presented the same way as your favorite Discovery Channel episodes. The dinosaurs and supporting creatures that lived millions of years ago, talk, communicate, live, and migrate into a beautiful, textured setting in Alaska. It helps that the movie is shown in 3D. A few infomercials are included to introduce new characters and predators with a witty script, as well, so the movie met its goal to inform with ease. Add into it a love story and it makes a good movie for first dates, as well.  It is light, fun and visually engaging – a complete opposite of my expectations from the first 5 minutes of the film.

One may see the movie as a regular animation film for kids, but after digging through the story, it is evident that the film teaches us a lot about leadership and standing up for what we believe in. In order to survive, one must make the right decision, even if it means breaking the rules.

Some movie critics may complain that dinosaur characters are not built well into the film, but I think that Walking with Dinosaurs stayed true to its concept.  When dinosaurs ruled the Earth, they only followed the leader of their herd, walked, ate, survived and followed. No questions, no thinking and no arguments. Patchi is the only dinosaur who though differently – he is a special kind – and this trait was probably passed on during evolution.  Come to think of it, we owe everything to Patchi! 😉

 

His Review on Walking with Dinosaurs

I think in order to enjoy this film, the viewer’s expectations have to be set. Its main goal seems to be to matter-of-factly narrate this dino species’ way of life 70 million years ago in an almost documentary, educational way (think National Geographic), while at the same time delivering astounding visuals. Sure, there was a teeny bit of a story in it, but I don’t think that was the main objective of the film.

It’s definitely not one of those dramatic/humanized/moralistic dinosaur stories we’ve gotten used to (think Land Before Time); and because of the documentary approach of the film, despite the sometimes dim dialogue, it had to portray the dinosaur characters as realistically as possible. So, no, these dinosaurs have no morals, a conscience or annoying sense of melodrama.

It’s all about basic wildlife survival, about how one pack-member’s unusual intelligence propelled it to pack-leader status.

Obviously in the game of evolution, intelligence is always one of the favored traits for survival. If those are your expectations as viewer (as mine were), then you’d be quite satisfied with Walking with Dinosaurs.

 

When in Manila, Walking with Dinosaurs will teach you how dinosaurs survived, and how you can survive in the modern times. 

 

Movie Review by Ruth dela Cruz and Ralph Jacob

 

 

Walking with Dinosaurs

 

Opens today, January 8, 2014 in 2D and 3D by 20th Century Fox

 

 

Walking with Dinosaurs: 3D Movie Review