Product Details

• Actors: Scott Sampson, Christian Slater
• Producers: Frances LoCascio, Jean Raymond Bourque, John Copeland, Mike Carroll, Paul Nightingale
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Family Home Ent
• DVD Release Date: February 17, 2004
• Run Time: 200 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00015HWYQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,928 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Dinosaur Planet - Real Big Stories" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, but WWD has far better animation, January 6, 2004

By 

H. David Peirce "Zossima" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dinosaur Planet - Real Big Stories (DVD)

I am now an expert in dinosaur films and film-making, thanks to my son's undying interest in the prehistoric creatures. We have this, and we have the BBC's Walking With Dinosaurs (WWD) series. Both are TREMENDOUS EDUCATIONAL AND CINEMATIC ACHIEVEMENTS. But I do think WWD is better than this, which is why this only gets 4 stars. (If aliens from another planet saw WWD, they'd think it was real; hence, it gets 5 stars for its realism.)

PROS
* The storylines are more "personal" than those in WWD: the dinosaurs have names and the stories make us more sympathetic to their plights

* I really like the cut-ins of the paleontologist explaining the evidence they found related to the storyline, the questions that still exist, etc.

* Each story is longer than the stories in WWD, which gives us more time to know the characters

CONS
* THE ANIMATIONS ARE *YEARS* BEHIND THE QUALITY OF THE ANIMATIONS IN WWD; the rendering of the dinosaur movement is choppy; they just don't look as real the landscape they inhabit; they don't leave footprints in sandy soil; etc.

* Some of the stories actually use landscapes with grass and even flowering grass, neither of which existed until after the age of the dinosaurs

* Christian Slater is not Kenneth Branagh (who narrates WWD)

PURCHASING RECOMMENDATION
Buy WWD first. The quality of the production far outweighs any advantages Dinosaur Planet might have. But don't hesitate to buy this. It's good. And honestly, 10 years ago, we'd have all watched this and raved about how great it was. We are spoiled by technology...

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dinosaur Planet, January 25, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Dinosaur Planet - Real Big Stories (DVD)

This is a REALLY great DVD, a show with four stories about four dinosaurs. The best part is that it is an educational story, not a normal documentry which some childeren may not be interested in.
1. White Tips' Journey:
A female Velociraptors' pack is killed, and must find another one.
Featured dinosaurs and mammals: Velociraptor, Prenocephale, Protoceratops, Oviraptor, Shuvuia and Deltaperidion
2. Pods' Travels:
A male Pyrorptor gets swept into sea, onto an island with mini-sized versions of the animals he is accoustomed to.
Featured dinosaurs, plesiosaurs and crocodiles: Pyrorptor, Titanosaurus, Iguanodon, Tarasctosaurus, Plesiosaurus, Ichthyornis, Apodoxsuchus and Troodon
3. Little Dass' Hunt:
A young male Daspletosaurus keeps ruining his familys' hunting expiditions. Meanwhile, a volcano threatens in the distance.
Featured dinosaurs and pterosaurs: Orodromeus, Quetzalcoatlus, Troodon, Daspletosaurus, Maiasaura and Einiosaurus
4. Alphas' Egg:
Follow a female Saltasaurus as she grows.
Featured dinosaurs and crocodiles: Saltasaurus, Aucasaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, Alvarezsaurus and Notosuchus
A note to sensitive parents: there ARE scenes with blood, dead bodies, deaths, predatation etc. If you are sensitive about this, I don't reccomend it for you.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Another fine documentary on dinosaurs, January 25, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Dinosaur Planet - Real Big Stories (DVD)

First of all, I would like to point out that this documentary is made by Meteor Studios in Montreal (When Dinosaurs roamed America) and not by Framestore in UK (Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Beast, Allosaurus and Chased by Dinosaurs).

I love dinosaurs so I have watched the whole series from Discovery Channel. I was disappointed at first because the animation and the compositing are far from perfect. I don't know what happened to Meteor Studios but the result is even worse then their last documentary on dinosaurs (When Dinosaurs Roamed America). The animation is terrible and the compositing is even less convincing this time. You simply cannot compare this documentary in a technical point of view with Walking with Dinosaurs, a documentary that was made 4 years ago. Even my girlfriend saw the difference in quality. She doesn't usually notice that. Because this is a visual documentary, I think it's important that the CGI has to be good.

It's not that all bad. The stories were interesting enough and I was happy to learn things on new dinosaurs. The dinosaurs (textures and models) look really impressive in still pictures.

Overall, I was happy to see another documentary on dinosaurs and I will buy this DVD when it comes out because I love everything related to dinosaurs. If you are only a casual viewer and looking for the ultimate DVD on dinosaurs, I will definitely recommend "Walking with Dinosaurs" instead.