Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure Blu-ray Movie Review

"There are countless others waiting for us to find them, waiting to tell us about our world, when it was theirs."

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater July 10, 2009

Almost every kid goes through a dinosaur phase, a brief window of awe and wonder when backyards can be transformed into T-Rex stomping grounds and swimming pools become haunts for monsters of the deep. These flights of imagination are usually supported by a host of arcane facts—dino trivia if you will—and in my third grade class there was an elite group of junior brainiacs who knew the average neck length of Plesiosaurs, the stride distance of Velociraptors, and scoffed at kids who thought the Brontosaurus was a real dinosaur. “It was an Apatosaurus with a misidentified skull…duh.” For this cadre of pint-sized dino-enthusiasts, National Geographic was a hallowed source of info. Those who had parents with subscriptions to the yellow-fringed magazine shared the contents during recess with protective reverence. We were too young still to gape at the topless tribal women—weird, we would say—but the articles on paleontology enraptured us, and we picked through them for facts like fossil hunters combing the bone-strewn plains of Kansas. If we had gone on a field trip to the nearest IMAX to catch Sea Monsters on the big, big screen, I’m sure we would’ve flipped. The film brings prehistoric, aquatic creatures to life though the magic of CGI, and offers up a platter of scientific particulars that would satisfy even the most discerning of grade-school dinophiles.

Dolly paddles her way through North America's Interior Sea.

The film couches its educational elements in a narrative about Dolly, a young Dolichorhynchops— the name means “long snout face”—who ventures with her brother and mother into the vast Interior Sea of what is now North America, some 80 million odd years ago. I say narrative, but there are no Ice Age-style hijinks here, and Sea Monsters doesn’t feature any talking, anthropomorphized creatures. It’s a rather straightforward birth-to-death storyline that follows Dolly as she grows and matures, escapes predators, and ultimately succumbs to old age. Along the way she encounters a number of heretofore-unknown species—this is where the mini- geeks will perk up—from the Enchodus, a “saber-toothed salmon,” to the Tylosaurus, a forty-foot behemoth that prowls the ocean for unsuspecting prey. The tale is told through sometimes- stunning CGI, although the models and environments look fairly outdated compared to modern theatrical offerings from Pixar and Dreamworks.

Breaking up the CGI sequences are live-action scenes that show paleontologists throughout the years making important discoveries that often relate to Dolly’s journey. Famed fossil-finder Charles Sternberg goes hunting for bones in his Ford Model T, a road crew in Texas unearths ancient Ammonites, and a team of grad students eventually investigate Dolly’s final resting place. These segments show all the sharpness and clarity that’s typical of IMAX films, but the acting is stiff and shoddy—not that it’ll likely matter to the target pre-teen audience.

Sea Monsters was shown in 3-D during it’s IMAX run, and I can see how many segments would be much more impressive with the added dimension. Enormous schools of fish swirl in the deep blue ocean and there are several sequences where creatures leap menacingly out of the screen. It wouldn’t have been too hard to toss some 3-D glasses into the disc’s packaging and include the original, depth-heavy cut, but the presentation here is still vivid and entertaining. Peter Gabriel—yes, that Peter Gabriel—contributes an engaging, full-bodied score, and actor Liev Schreiber gives concise narration that’s sometimes dry, but never dull. At a mere 40 minutes, Sea Monsters is perfectly timed for a trip to the aquarium, but it does come off as a bit too short when viewed at home. It’s nearly over before it begins, and unless your kid is a diehard dino-freak who wants to pick out all the details, there’s not much meat on Sea Monsters’ fossilized bones. Still, it’s both educational and entertaining—perfect for those school-free summer months.

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

While we unfortunately don't get the 3-D mix, Sea Monsters' 1080p, AVC-encoded transfer is crisp and striking. The CGI isn't the most stunning I've seen, but it's all rendered smoothly, with no video hiccups or compression artifacts. Colors are deep and pleasingly saturated—the prevalent blues really shine—and solid black levels give the otherwise 2-D image some vibrant dimensional pop. The film is tack-sharp too, with no cheap tricks like edge enhancement to muddle the look. The sequences shot on film are similarly impressive, featuring that big, bold IMAX look that revels in clarity and resolution, with the thinnest layer of grain to add some warmth to the image. The original IMAX aspect ratio has been cropped down to 1.78:1, but this is of little detriment and allows the film to fully fill out your TV. Overall, this is a great transfer from Nat Geo (has that caught on yet?).

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While not as impressive as the film's PQ, Sea Monsters' Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track serves its purpose well. Peter Gabriel's score is the most prevalent element of the mix, and it fills every channel with dynamic arrangements and a fairly wide spread between speakers, allowing individual instruments to pop in and out with some interesting directionality. Though there are some bubbles and gurgles in the rears—along with some swooshes and panned swim-bys—most of the ambient audio does seem front-centric. Liev Schreiber's narration is mostly clear and clean, though there are a few instances when the watery sound effects drown him out a bit (har har).

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Interactive Timeline

This timeline is actually pretty low on interactivity, but you can explore the Triassic, Jurassic, Early Cretaceous, and Late Cretaceous periods by clicking on a map, viewing the animals that lived during each era, and reading a little bit about them. Kids won't have the patience though, and neither will most adults.

Along with three brief informational videos about National Geographic, the disc also includes SD trailers for March of the Penguins, Arctic Tale, Sky Monsters, and the Sea Monsters video game.

Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Today's kids take this CGI business for granted. I remember I almost died when watching Jurassic Park, I was that awe-struck. So, your kid's interest in Sea Monsters may vary depending on his or her love of dinosaurs and familiarity with more impressive CGI fare from the likes of Pixar. There's a certain caliber of kid who'll just eat this stuff up, though, and for them, Sea Monsters will be like manna from heaven. It's definitely on the short side, but it does strike a nice balance between informative and fun. I'd suggest renting this one first.