Customer Reviews

Dragon's World: A Fantasy Made Real

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

To produce a scientific study of a creature that never existed, then place it in a format that makes it seem credible, should be considered a sci-fi/fantasy flick, right? Nope, the good folks over at Animal Planet took the time to create an entire biological and environmental make-up for dragons, and then presented it in a format similar to all of those dinosaur documentaries such as "Walking With Dinosaurs."

By doing this, we are asked to believe in the "what if" factor. The documentary, scattered with recreations of T-Rex and dragon fights, mating rituals, hunting, and other day-to-day happenings in a dragon's life, follows the work of a small British scientific team who research a creature found in Romania. There mission is to prove or disprove a hoax.

The team, headed by a very enthusiastic rookie, begins to explain how dragons might have been able to fly, survive the K/T incident, adapt to colder climates and, most importantly, breathe fire. They explain how this precious fire gives them an edge on all of the other animals that inhabited their world until man comes along.

Though some of the science is sketchy and hard to swallow, you have to let your mind go and "pretend" that dragons actually could have roamed the earth. The acting in the flick is pretty good, though the lead scientist seemed to be forcing his emotions. The special effects are wonderful for a documentary. They are right up there with "Walking With Dinosaurs" and easily outperform any flicks put on by the SciFi channel.

Overall, an enjoyable flick that gives hope to those who have always wondered if dragons really existed. Perhaps Animal Planet will do more show like this explaining the science of creatures like Bigfoot, Chupacabra, griffins, etc.

Highly recommended for the whole family. There is just a little bit of violence, and it is all handled very well.

There is the story of how a legend became a real living animal. Or how it might be if there were such a thing as dragons and a body of one was found. A mixture of documentary and fantasy, of computer animation and live action, of natural science and wild imagination. A behind the scenes feature and additional scenes make this disc a perfect part of any collection. Slightly different from the TV version I saw, it seems to be better put together into an over-all story (and a tad longer). Narrated by Ian Holm, it's just pure fun.

The way this program is set up if you miss the title and one sentence or so at the beginning you might almost think it was a real documentary on Dragons.
It starts out with a young scientist at the London Museum of Natural Sciences (a real museum was used but only the Oxford Museum of Natural History is listed in the credits) examining the skull of a T-Rex (only the third complete one ever found) and pronouncing apparent burn and claw marks to be evidence of an unknown lifeform- Dragons.
His reputation is trashed until a discovery is made in Romania and he is part of a team sent to check it out. What they find rewrites the books and is told in beautiful detail as we are shown the remains and examination of a dragon and the bodies of the men who apparently killed it back in the 15th century. The story has all the detail of a real documentary, showing the scientists and their examinations of the bodies, and includes flashbacks of past dragon life and evolution (including the story of that T-Rex encounter and how the dragon species managed to survive when the dinosaurs didn't) as well as believeable details on just how they were able to achieve flight and breathe fire. Towards the end of the story a second dragon body is found.
There's a lot of computer animation work done by the same people who worked on "Walking with Dinosaurs" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (Amazon says, the packaging says Potter & "Prisoner of Azkaban"), it almost always looks very real, possibly the best I've seen done.
The story ends with the scientist's reputation now restored and the implication that there are still dragons somewhere in the world- alive.
There's a featurette on how the story was developed and produced, it is worth watching but isn't closed captioned or subtitled which may be a hindrance to those with a loss of hearing.

...if only they'd made it a documentary, using REAL scientists. They tried to appeal to a larger audience by almost making it something you might see in a theatre. Due to this, the script was horrible and the acting absolutely atrocious. I think there were a lot of people lacking in intelligence who believed this was actually real. The main "scientist" was such a moron. And that's a huge understatement. I almost threw something when he said, "Hello Sweetie...what are ya?". I DID throw something when he said "dragon poop". I won't bother pointing out the specific scientific flaws, because there's too many, and most people wouldn't follow or care. So, just the basics: Aside from the fact that a carcass from thousands of years ago would never be preserved like that, if one was ever found, thousands of scientists would be called from all around the world. A paleontologist would NOT just start CUTTING up the body and ripping things out. He touches it with his BARE HANDS for god's sake! He climbs all over the rock that has evidence of scorch marks! I don't even want to know what he'd do at homicide scene. The only time he sounded like he halfway knew what he was talking about was when he explained Platinum, even though he wasn't entirely correct. Oh, and where would they find so much Platinum?

"You put Hydrogen in a balloon, what happens? It floats away, right?" *bangs head on table* No way, really? I guess my Ph.D didn't teach me that.

My favorite part was when he says, "we need a light, combustible material" and the female scientist (the one with brown hair) gives him a look of, "Could you BE more stupid?" (Yes, Chandler). Then in a voice which barely hides her annoyance, she says, "Like GAS?"

This really could have been an awesome film, but they should have used believable facts and had real scientists, or actors with some basic talent, explain the possibilities. They didn't have to create an entire story just to show what dragons would have been like. I love dragons and dearly wish they existed. They could have made it much more convincing. For those of you who felt completely persuaded, do you know NOTHING about science and history? And acting, for that matter.

So, if you do know nothing about biology, chemistry or natural history, you will likely love it. The special effects were rather amazing, as the dragons looked very believable. I thoroughly enjoyed that part, which is why I give this a 3.

This one of the best shows on none existent creatures ever made. It's something for the entire family to enjoy. From the fight between the T-Rex and the Prehistoric Dragon, the battle between male Prehistoric Dragons and to the mating ritual of the Mountain Dragons, everything about this show will make you wonder whether or not they really did exist. This only got 4 stars because, in my opinion, there weren't enough scenes with the CGI dragons.

But still, this is a very entertaining show. This worth every penny you spend. It will also help you kill some time while waiting for the new tv program, "Prehistoric Park". It's a follow up to the Walking with Dinosaurs specials, Chased by Dinosaurs(as it is called in the USA) and Sea Monsters. It will still feature Nigel Marven with his prehistoric pals on all new escapades. It will most probably be out at the end of 2006. For now, buy this DVD to keep yourself entertained for the time being.

For anymore information on Prehistoric Park visit the diary section on www.nigelmarven.com . So far this is the only website with any information on the show. So keep an eye open or it'll take a bite out of your behind.

I enjoyed the recent broadcast of this show but was puzzled by how quickly it sped by, how it shot through the material so quickly (and gave recaps every half hour for those just tuning in). I assumed what was shown on American television was abridged in order to cram in the 20-plus minutes per hour of commercials that is now standard "over here." Sure enough, this DVD announces this release contains over an hour of "never-before-seen footage," obviously cut out of the US broadcast in order to make way for all those swell commercials. Also, although "our" version was narrated by Patrick Stewart, the DVD release as advertised on Amazon is narrated by Ian Holm. In the same way that the UK version of "Walking with Dinosaurs" dumped Kenneth Branagh's voice-over and replaced it with one done by Avery Brooks, I guess the point being made is that it isn't really made-up until you make a Star Trek connection. I'm giving this DVD a tentative 4 star rating because what I saw was intriguing but heavily abridged to the point of being a massive trailer for what Amazon is selling (and I AM ordering a copy, by the way, Stewart vs. Holm nothwithstanding).

I, too, watched the program that aired on Animal Planet, and enjoyed it immensely. It drew me in and often made me wonder if I was watching a real discovery. Then I saw the DVD in the stores with a sticker advertising "an hour of extra footage not seen on television". So I hopped on Amazon.com to see what other customers had to say about the DVD. Bought it, played it, LOVED IT! This is a nailbiter paleontologic detective story that will keep you on the edge of your seat! The DVD presentation is much more involved than the somewhat more documentary-style TV version and also explains the story better which makes the whole thing even more plausible.

This pseudo-documentary feels so real that it may well lead to engaging discussions afterwards. A great opportunity to familiarize yourself and your offspring with mythology and folklore from around the world, since the dragon plays an important role in just about every culture's history.

Caution: This is not Saturday morning kiddie fare so parents can sleep in. Small children will not understand the scientific explanations but may be frightened by the intensity of especially the final 20 minutes.

This movie single handedly fueled my 8 year old's current obsession with dragons. LOL The CGI is on par with Walking with Dinosaurs and the others in that series. While it's made in a similar documentary style, it has a nice storyline about a scientist studying the dragons that is engaging as well. I actually enjoyed that as much as the dragon piece.

But I'm a geek. :D

"Dragon's World: A Fantasy Made Real" is an entertaining mix of a documentary and a plotted movie. Inspired by "Walking With Dinosaurs," Animal Planet made a movie with special effects just as good as the inspiration. Of course, knowing Animal Planet, they just couldn't stop themselves from throwing a little spice into it. Here's a short summary of what it's about:

A guy (I forget his name) receives news that a dragon-like body had just been found in the ice caves of Romania. He and two of his colleagues are sent there to perform a mildly graphic autopsy on the huge body, which is probably a hoax-or is it?

That's the main plot of the movie part. Here's the documentary part of it:

At different times in the movie, the scenes with a plot are often interrupted by a few exciting moments in various types of dragon's lives. A very well done scene is at the beginning, when there is a fight between a prehistoric dragon and a T-Rex.

Violence: 7
Acting: 8
Action: 6
Special Effects: 10
Entertainment: 9
Overall: 40

Review by D-No, 10 year-old boy.

This was recommended to me after I did an analysis of dragons for a literature class. I love how they did a scientific study of a dragon. A little bit of it was far-fetched, but most of it was explained in a manner that one could really believe this was true. It really made the brain whirl to imagine dragons were once real.