Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur may have gotten pushed back, but at least animation fans have another dinosaur movie to look forward to that’s still on schedule: Walking with Dinosaurs.
Walking with Dinosaurs is a 3D CGI film that is based on a 1999 BBC documentary of the same name. It follows the story of a heard of Pachyrhinosaurus during a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The dinosaurs are anthropomorphic, but do not actually talk using their mouths; instead they voices are dubbed over the action. To create an sense of realism to the CGI dinosaurs, the live-action settings are captured by cameras. Walking with Dinosaurs is directed by Neil Nightingale and Barry Cook. It is produced by BBC Earth and distributed by 20th Century Fox.
The trailer is getting a lot of pushback from fans of the original documentary saying that it is a Disney-corrupted version of the documentary. Personally, I find the trailer visually appealing, but I am not attracted to the story, which is just another migration adventure much like Dinosaur and The Land Before Time. Also, the voices are so over the top that it comes off like the filmmakers are trying to hard to make this life-like film a comedy that will appeal to the children (which, it might. Who knows?).
To help promote the film, BBC Worldwide released the Walking with Dinosaurs: Photo Adventure app. This augmented reality app allows you to bring dinosaurs into your world where you can take photos and insert dinosaurs into the pictures, play games, and learn about dinosaurs featured in the movie. The app is free and might be worth checking out. Personally, the photos seem a bit crazy and the dinosaur animation is a significant step down from the movie, so it comes off a bit cheap. The app is available for both Apple and Android devices.
Walking with Dinosaurs hits theatres December 20.