Home :: DVD :: Television :: BBC  

A&E Home Video
BBC

Classic TV
Discovery Channel
Fox TV
General
HBO
History Channel
Miniseries
MTV
National Geographic
Nickelodeon
PBS
Star Trek
TV Series
WGBH Boston
Allosaurus - A Walking With Dinosaurs Special

Allosaurus - A Walking With Dinosaurs Special

List Price: $9.98
Your Price: $9.98
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 30 minutes of heaven for a dinosaur fan!
Review: I've been obsessed with dinosaurs since I can remember, yet privately disappointed with cheesy dinosaur movies (not that that ever stopped me from watching them!) Thank goodness, then, for "Walking with Dinosaurs: Allosaurus"! The animation is flawless, and unlike the excellent "Jurassic Park" movies, there aren't any annoying humans to distract us from the dinosaurs. The video takes us from Big Al's birth and early years, chasing dragonflies and harassing scorpions, to his juvenile and young-adult years, and eventual outcome (I won't spoil it!) What could be more terrifying than a 30 foot predator running through the salt flats after a herd of apatosaurs? Take your bathroom break before you start the video, make sure there's extra popcorn, and keep the Visine handy--- you won't want to blink! The afterword, where they describe the science behind the show, is fairly decent. And yet... couldn't they have deleted it and just added another half hour of the dinosaurs?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Very disappointed
Review: It has nothing on it, maybe I was expecting it to be like the movie Dinosaur. I don't need anymore wall paper or a screen savers I just was expecting some educational information for my grandkid and got very little. I wasted my money on this one. Maybe the full version is better so put your money toward the full version and don't waste it on this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Dinosaur fans rejoice
Review: It is a golden age for fans of Dinosaurs. Computer animation has brought these ancient beasts to life. Walking with Dinosaurs has spawned this special as well as countless dino-related fare like When Dinosaurs Roamed America. Allosaurus is a fascinating look at the Lion of the Jurassic.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Walking with Dinasaurs special
Review: It is up to the amazing standard of the first lot. It looks so good, that it could have been filmed in real life!

Again the BBC had to make "best guesses" on several things, such as the colour of it's skin, how it hunted etc, but it is simply brillant!

If you liked or loved Walking with Dinasaurs - you will love this as well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fantastic. Hope it's done again.
Review: Let me get a few things out of the way.

First of all, Walking with Dinosaurs was great. Sometimes the special effects were less than perfect, but it was all excusable.

However, I thought it unfortunate that we never got to see just one species as it interacted with others. WWD seemed to cover more the stories of communities of dinosaurs, unlike the classic documentaries that follow a single pride of lions, or a pod of whales, and the like.

But it was great, and just as the original captured the big picture, Allosaurus captures the details. The special effects are flawless, the story is well-worked and realistic, everything works. If you like dinosaurs, liked Walking with Dinosaurs, or enjoy documentaries, try out Allosaurus. He was my favorite as a kid, and I love seeing them do justice to the ancient beast.

One gripe. The music needs to stop. Good documentaries are only natural sound. BBC melodramatizes when it scores the action. But I tune it out.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Been a month since I ordered and still not recieved
Review: Strange that I ordered this dvd on July 3rd and still have not recieved it. It's now August 2nd and it is not even due now to arrive until the 14th. Bad service is one thing. inability to deliver is another. what's up, my son is sitting here waiting for a present that may never arrive.... Sad :(

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Jurassic America's Greatest Predator
Review: The "seventh" episode of the spectacularly successful "Walking with Dinosaurs" series, "Allosaurus" - better known as "The Ballad of Big Al" outside the US - is a extraordinary follow-up to that series. It also served to whet many fans' appetite for the later "Prehistoric Beasts" series.

In "Allosaurus", we followed the life of "Big Al" literally from birth to the grave. Life wasn't all "blood in tooth and claw" for the top predator in Jurassic America, as we're shown. As a baby, Al had to watch for predators, especially his own kind! He had to literally teach himself to hunt, and some prey was just too big to take on without help. And mating was no pinic either; Al needs more than flowers to win a female's heart.

As a sequel of sorts to "Walking with Dinosaurs", "Allosaurus" does quite well. We're treated to the same CGI and animatronic effects seen in the previous series, and while the puppetry still needs a little work, IMHO, the CGI is top notch. All of the dinosaurs featured in the episode "Time of the Titans" - Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, and Stegosaurus - return here. Three more dinosaurs are added to the cast; Dryosaurus, Othnelia, and the famous Apatosaurus. As with "Dinosaurs", there is a "Making of..." episode, included on the VHS, giving us insight into the research of what is one of the most recognizable predatory dinosaurs, second only to Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor.

While "Allosaurus" is a wonderful series, I do have one little complaint. Surely the Framestore and BBC teams could have added a few more dinosaurs to the episode. They didn't need to have added more sauropods; three is enough. But what about Ceratosaurus, or Camptosaurus, both contemparies of Allosaurus? Surely both these dinosaurs could have been included, especially since its likely Ceratosaurus could have competed with Allosaurus for the same food source.

Despite this "flaw", "Allosaurus" is a fine follow-up to "Dinosaurs". Part of the continuing "Walking with..." series, which now includes "Prehistoric Beasts", "Chased by Dinosaurs", and now "Walking with Cavemen", "Allosaurus" definately belongs in anyone's collection. And here's a message to the folks at the BBC: please, *please* do something about the time *before* the dinosaurs.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Jurassic America's Greatest Predator
Review: The "seventh" episode of the spectacularly successful "Walking with Dinosaurs" series, "Allosaurus" - better known as "The Ballad of Big Al" outside the US - is a extraordinary follow-up to that series. It also served to whet many fans' appetite for the later "Prehistoric Beasts" series.

In "Allosaurus", we followed the life of "Big Al" literally from birth to the grave. Life wasn't all "blood in tooth and claw" for the top predator in Jurassic America, as we're shown. As a baby, Al had to watch for predators, especially his own kind! He had to literally teach himself to hunt, and some prey was just too big to take on without help. And mating was no pinic either; Al needs more than flowers to win a female's heart.

As a sequel of sorts to "Walking with Dinosaurs", "Allosaurus" does quite well. We're treated to the same CGI and animatronic effects seen in the previous series, and while the puppetry still needs a little work, IMHO, the CGI is top notch. All of the dinosaurs featured in the episode "Time of the Titans" - Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, and Stegosaurus - return here. Three more dinosaurs are added to the cast; Dryosaurus, Othnelia, and the famous Apatosaurus. As with "Dinosaurs", there is a "Making of..." episode, included on the VHS, giving us insight into the research of what is one of the most recognizable predatory dinosaurs, second only to Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor.

While "Allosaurus" is a wonderful series, I do have one little complaint. Surely the Framestore and BBC teams could have added a few more dinosaurs to the episode. They didn't need to have added more sauropods; three is enough. But what about Ceratosaurus, or Camptosaurus, both contemparies of Allosaurus? Surely both these dinosaurs could have been included, especially since its likely Ceratosaurus could have competed with Allosaurus for the same food source.

Despite this "flaw", "Allosaurus" is a fine follow-up to "Dinosaurs". Part of the continuing "Walking with..." series, which now includes "Prehistoric Beasts", "Chased by Dinosaurs", and now "Walking with Cavemen", "Allosaurus" definately belongs in anyone's collection. And here's a message to the folks at the BBC: please, *please* do something about the time *before* the dinosaurs.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best of Walking With Dinosaurs.
Review: The reason I like this more than the others was because they gave us a lot of data on just one dinosaur - a Allosaurus named Big Al. Big Al's story is based on what information scientists were able to get from a almost complete skeleton found in Wyoming. The story is about his life, which was only 15 years long. 60 minutes, half of which is the story and half of which is about how they figured out what they did from the bones.
I kind of feel sorry for Big Al. He had a REALLY tough life and we don't even know if he ever got to have offspring or not. Was he a father of dozens of Allosaurus babies or did his genes end with his death? Extras also include a photo gallery and storyboards.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing Effects with an Engaging Story
Review: The story of "Big Al," is a big hit with my 4-year-old son (and with me). This program was not produced specifically for kids, but the narration is clear and obviously comprehensible to viewers of all ages. I'm a big believer in not "dumbing-down" dialogue for the sake of children. Kids become motivated to learn -- and they do learn -- when they are challenged to understand what's going on around them. My kids want to know what mom and dad are talking about and what's going on in the world. So, they wrestle with the concepts that elude them and ask questions to fill in the blanks. "Allosaurus" has obvious dinosaur appeal, and it's truly educational and challenging. Some scenes deal with injury and death. I'd recommend that you preview the disc before showing it to your own children. In that vein, I recommend that you avoid "Walking with Prehistoric Beasts" for your kids. It's far more violent and intense than "Allosaurus."


<< 1 2 3 4 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates