Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Dinosaurs aren’t my favorite topic for educational films. They tend to be presented in a fairly dry manner, despite with the help of a friendly paleontologist or two. With IMAX, though, sometimes you have to take what you get, so Mr_chelledun and I recently checked out Dinosaurs 3D: Giants of Patagonia at our local theater. The results were predictable – this is a decent IMAX film, if not a particularly exciting or memorable one.

Plot Information
This 2007 release takes a look at dinosaur species native to Patagonia, a South American region encompassing parts of Argentina and Chile. In particular, we’re talking about those relative newcomers on the dino-scene – the herbivorous Argentinosaur and the unfriendly, carnivorous Gigantosaur. With the help of friendly paleontologist Rodolfo Coria (See? I told you.) viewers are transported back in time to learn how these creatures lived, what they ate, and where they all disappeared to. We flash between the museum, where we see bones, to "the past", where we see dinosaurs alive, in 3D. In traditional IMAX style, this film runs forty minutes.

My Thoughts
I enjoyed Dinosaurs 3D much more than Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep, which we saw the same morning. The 3D affects are sharp and the CGI dinosaurs look great and move in a way that seemed lifelike to this viewer. Dinosaurs 3D gives viewers at least one excellent fight scene, some cute baby dinosaurs, and eerily lifelike flying pteradactyls. I was also impressed with the prehistoric world created as a backdrop for the dinosaur shots as well as the “you are there” feel of the museum setting used for narrative portions of the film.

All but the most die-hard dino buffs will probably learn something new from this film. I know I had never heard of either the Argentinosaur or the Gigantosaur prior to watching Dinosaurs 3D, and now both will pop into my head each time someone mentions Argentina, Chile, or Patogonia. This film is also fairly kid-friendly for the most part.

At the same time, though, Dinosaurs 3D doesn’t feel all that different from the National Geographic specials I saw in grade school that were about the Brontosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex. Unlike Sea Monsters, Dinosaurs 3D presents plenty of hard facts. Unfortunately, it does so in a relatively boring way. It would be nice to see an educational film break out of the traditional mold. I wouldn’t think that would be hard, specially given the wealth of new information learned about dinosaurs over the past couple of decades. Dinosaurs 3D just feels incredibly predictable, from the glory age of dinosaurs bit at the beginning to the extinction at the end. Quite frankly, this movie didn’t manage to make me care about the asteroid hitting.

Overall…
Dinosaurs 3D is worth seeing for some of its parts, if not the whole. The film looks good and provides valuable information about little-known species. Although there’s nothing especially thrilling to see here, you could do worse at the IMAX.

Recommended: No