T Rex Back to the Cretaceous IMAX :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

IMAX 3-D viewed as DVD 2-D

2004-07-15
This is one of the few IMAX "educational" films to have a storytelling presentation. It's 3-D was well shot for the IMAX format (70mm film). An IMAX 1.44 format is close enough to a standard 1.33 TV video, that it should translate to DVD well. It also comes with a "making of" short featurette.

The film centers around the daughter of a paleontologist, who's induced imagination brings the museum's displays to life. A few (good) educational encounters with historic figures, and realistic (though brief) prehistoric lifeforms, are interwoven by a father/daughter storyline and a contrived, disoriented, hallucinatory run through the museum.

So, why only 2 stars? An attempt to add storytelling to education, without being firmly committed to either (or both), leaves everyone expecting more than this film provides. Little boys will find very little dinosaur sightings here, along with too little action to hold their attention. Little girls might identify with the lead character, but it's not likely to have enough storyline to be their favorite DVD. Adults will find the children's "edu-drama" well under their heads (something you'd like to show your child, but too dull to watch by yourself). This is not at all a bad film, but there's just too little of the good stuff.

Film fans will be disappointed that the well done 3-D isn't presented here...even though the film is only 45 mins long, and the DVD could easily have included a field sequential 3-D "bonus" version, which would've sold the DVD the same way 3-D sold this IMAX film in theaters. This film was written to be shot in 3-D, and technically executed flawlessly for IMAX 3-D presentation. I'd buy a 3-D version of this DVD in a heart-beat!

IMAX is HUGE, so the impressive size is lost on a TV...and 70mm film versus DVD quality is like illustrating an atomic blast with a BB gun.

The only thing that could be of value is if there was a thorough "making of" focusing of the rules of 3-D filmmaking (and IMAX) versus standard filmmaking, which would pull in the 3-D lovers and film students.

Short, but entertaining 2004-05-02
From the bulk of reviews on this site I gather most people don't realize that IMAX is about presentation and style rather than story and content. Shot on vertical 70mm film the reels in the projection booth take up a huge amount of space, thus the running time of IMAX movies tends to be kept to around 45-50 minutes. Thus the format lends itself more towards the documentary/short movie genre. Most of the movies are factual but sometimes original stories come along. T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous is one of them.

It came out in 1998 and when I was at the Trocadero IMAX-3D cinema in London I had to choose between this movie and another called Across the Sea of Time. I chose the latter. Which is a shame coz the dinosaurs and huge shots of this movie would have looked better in 3D.

T-Rex begins with an impressive opening shot of the camera swooping over the Arizona desert, which still looks great even on a widescreen TV instead of the huge IMAX screen. There's a hefty narration from the lead actress conveying relevant information about dinosaurs. In this respect the film feels a bit like a 10-year-old's educational program. But being familiar with IMAX movies I was expecting this. I think too many people were expecting a Jurassic Park variant.

Tho I would have expected a few more dinosaurs. In the 45 minute running time there wasn't much dinosaur action. Though there was a good amount of story that I did get into. Plus the movie has a great score by William Ross. He released a promo CD of this score but it's impossible to find.

Hey, I was entertained and I thot the brief story was quite okay. The horribly slanderous reviews on this site really baffle me. The IMAX format does not work well on DVD, you have to see these movies in the cinema. But if you have a good sound system then the DVD is still worth it.

The DVD is in 1.33:1 full frame (they are shown theatrically at 1.44:1 so there isn't much modification to the framing) with a Dolby 5.1 soundtrack that is quite impressive. A slight featurette and an IMAX movies trailer are also included.

Terrible, about 10 seconds of actual dinosaurs in it... 2004-01-09
I saw this at an Imax theatre, I was thinking what awesome potential seeing dinosaurs in 3D would provide. Boy was I wrong, there was around 10 seconds of CG dinosaurs in this, and they were badly animated. The rest is the most banal story imagineable about a girl and her quest to find an egg or something (I forget, it was _that_ dull).

Check out Walking with Dinosaurs instead.

Saw this in the Smithsonian 2003-12-31
I saw this in the Smithsonian with my kids, and even with the novelty of seeing a movie in 3D it was *boring*. It was a complete waste of time and money.

If you are looking for eye candy, there are very few scenes that actually have "live" dinosaurs. If you are looking for science, and you're over 5, I doubt you'll learn anything new.

Great for children who aren't fanatics about dinos 2003-08-21
Clean and decent entertainment. Saw it on the IMAX screen with a 10 year old boy who loves the dino's. He wasn't thrilled but I (33 yrs old and sick of shoot 'em ups) thought it was clean decent and even slightly educational. My dvd collection is 200 movies strong and I will add this for entertainment value for adults and children alike. (Although I know it won't be as grand as on the IMAX screen.)

Worth the under $$$ price tag. An even better value at the used prices.

for those of you who didn't see it in 3-D 2008-02-02
I saw it in IMAX at Universal Studios Hollywood. I admit it was much better that way because that it is the way it was meant to be seen. I believe they did a great job, the story wasn't poor by any means but until you see it in 3-D, don't bother to make a comment about it. I thought it was was one of the best IMAX movies I've seen, but it should be watched as it was intended by the creators. DLJ.

Nice see it one time movie 2006-10-22
This movie has two things going for it; the last 10 minutes and a wonderful William Ross score. Seeing it on the actual 3-D Imax for the first time was great. However, on the dvd, with the special effects of the big screen omitted, leaves much to be desired.

My all time favorite IMAX 3D Film... 2006-04-09
YES, you would HAVE to see this in IMAX 3D to enjoy it. The script is not very good. But it is such a good 3D Film, over all, that I went to see this movie 4 times in our local IMAX Theater, and would see it again (in IMAX 3D).

I also like it because I love Time Travel films. So maybe you need to like Time Travel films to enjoy this one. I would HIGHLY Recommend seeing T-Rex in IMAX 3D the first time though. They did a wonderful job giving you the FEELING of actually being a Time Traveller... in IMAX 3D.

So, maybe I should have given the DVD 3 stars, but the IMAX 3D film definitely deserves 5 stars.

T-Rex Back to the Cretaceous 2005-09-27
The plot is hokey, but my son loves the movie. It was made for kids like him, not me, so if you've got a dinosaur-obsessed child, he or she will probably love it, too.

The Worst Dinosaur Movie Ever--And I Mean Ever 2005-04-12
What a total piece of crap! It's hard to imagine that even the special effects in an IMAX theatre could have redeemed this disaster. For one thing, how would there have been time to have all that many special dinosaur effects when most of the movie revolves around one very uninteresting little girl?
Apparently, someone thought that it would be a great idea to pass off a juvenile feminist tract as a dinosaur adventure. It was not a great idea. Anyone expecting to learn anything about dinosaurs or even see all that many dinosaurs in this production is going to be very disappointed and is going to feel very deceived indeed.
To give this DVD even one star is an insult to movies which do deserve at least one star. This rotten piece of work doesn't even deserve one star.
Save your money and buy one of the truly well-done DVD's out there about dinosaurs and the prehistoric world. "Walking With Dinosaurs," "Walking With Prehistoric Beasts," "When Dinosaurs Roamed America" and "Prehistoric America" are all very good. Don't waste even a penny on "T-Rex - Back to the Cretaceous!"