Product Description

For nearly 200 million years while dinosaurs roamed the Earth, the seas teemed with some of the most awe-inspiring ocean creatures of all time. Sea Monsters, a National Geographic Giant Screen film, is an entertaining journey into prehistoric oceans. Inter-cutting between the animated story and the reenactments of fossil discoveries combine the appeal of "Indiana Jones" with the CGI that brings these prehistoric monsters to life. Perfect for the whole family.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37728 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2008-06-24
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 40 minutes

Amazon.com
For the child who knows the difference between a diplodocus and an apatosaurus (or for the adult who remembers a youthful obsession with dinosaurs), National Geographic's Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure will be a delight. This 40-minute special explores the less-familiar world of the prehistoric oceans, filled with predatory Platecarpi, gentle Protostegas, and cold-eyed Xiphactini. The story follows a newborn Dolichorhynchops (a short-necked plesiosaur that looks a little like a dolphin crossed with the Loch Ness Monster) as she matures into adolescence and adulthood, surviving encounters with sharks and the fearsome Tylosaurus, who's sort of the T-Rex of the deep. Juxtaposed with these vivid CGI recreations are staged depictions of paleontological digs throughout the 20th century that unveiled the bones of these ancient deep-sea beasties. It's irrefutable: Dinosaurs are compulsively fun to learn about, and the prehistoric creatures of the ocean are no exception. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Ancient Adventure.
Dinosaurs are everyone's favorite fossils. All kids seem to know about them in one way or another. There's "Jurassic Park" and other movies. There's Barney. All major natural history museums have exhibits. Dinosaurs are many states' "official fossil" and on and on. Well, why not? Even though they constitute only a small portion of the total Mesozoic fauna, they're generally large and spectacular and grab the imagination like no other fossil group. The Mesozoic Era was a glorious time for the reptiles and not just the Dinosaurs. The Mesozoic oceans had an assemblage of large marine reptiles that were just as remarkable in their habitats as the Dinosaurs were on land. Giant marine turtles, Ichthyosaurs, Plesiosaurs of great variety and ferocious Mosasaurs, in addition to some pretty gigantic sharks and other fish, roamed the Mesozoic seaways. "Sea Monsters: A prehistoric Adventure" is a film put together to depict the marine fauna of this time span.

"Sea Monsters" weaves multiple lines of information together. First, there's the group of paleontologists who are collecting and curateing the fossils. Second are the nature and animated recreations of the fossils themselves. Third is a little story that the fossils supposedly reveal regarding some small short-necked plesiosaurs referred to as dollies (a mother and two siblings) who venture out into the mean Cretaceous sea about 82 million years ago. Finally, the movie gives an interesting and spectacular viewing of the geologic history of the seaway, both in map and perspective views. Would the average viewer (especially kids) comprehend and appreciate the complexly interwoven story? Probably not. However, they well might enjoy many facets of the film especially some spectacular animated versions of the Mesozoic marine creatures. A person well versed in natural history might view the film in an entirely different way and find it to be very interesting and well done. The DVD could be repeatedly viewed, especially by children. As their knowledge grew, probably their understanding and appreciation would also grow. Same for adults. The film has good educational potential. Personally, my favorite portion of the film would be the animations. It was delightful to view creatures that I've read about in spectacular live versions.

I should probably issue a disclosure at this point. I served as a scientific consultant to this film and I'm listed in the closing credits. I received no remuneration or expenses and have no financial tie-ins with the filming company or The National Geographic Society, and none was expected. My interest was in the fossils and the story they were telling and I'm delighted with the final results. I viewed the film at the Rueben Fleet IMAX Theater with Director Sean Phillips and others and greatly enjoyed the evening. The DVD could not possibly be as spectacular as my viewing, but I have full confidence that the DVD version will show well on a wide-screen TV.

Gary Peterson

Better for Education than Entertainment
The special effects were amazing, a lot of information was given, wonderful narration, and the storyline was interesting.

However, I can't bring myself to give more than three stars because the staged paleontologist scenes were too cheesy for me...I don't know if better actors would have made a difference. Just when we were getting into the scenes with the prehistoric creatures, it would cut away to a reacreation of how the fossils were found - it was very distracting.

I think maybe they should have separated those scenes from the main storyline, and offered the fossil information as a special feature for the DVD.

If you prefer the set-up of DVDs such as Chased By Sea Monsters or When Dinosaurs Roamed America, you might have the same problem trying to sit through this DVD.

We bought this DVd for our three-year old son who is fascinated with prehistoric sea monsters...he loves the parts featuring the creatures, but kept wandering off whenever they cut to the staged "people" scenes. That kind of defeated the purpose of buying this DVD.

kids actually watch it.
have brought just about every blu-ray disk that has some educational value ie. the planet earth. but if their are no dinosaurs they quikly get bored. i enjoy the other educational blu-rays but they don't grab the attention of the kids. this one did so buy it if you want to enjoy some high quality blu ray viewing w/your youngsters.