Kids movie recommendations--dinosaurs

Cafe Society
1

Help! The three-year-old has just decided to fixate on a video Mr. Cameron’s sister lent us. “Oh, it’s so cute!” she said. The other sister in law insisted her kids loved it, too, and it was great.

It was “The Land Before Time” and it is the most nauseating heap of saccharine I have ever had the misfortune to encounter. I say that as someone who has sat through more Teletubbies episodes than can possibly be healthy.

The six year old was game when it first went into the VCR, but quickly decided the T Rex was too scary, and the loss of parents was too upsetting. I was relieved, thinking I could return it to the aunt before I had to puke. But this morning, paidhi-boy begged me for “dinosaurs TV!” Oh, hell!

Here’s what I need–a kids movie with dinosaurs that won’t send me into a diabetic coma. Surely there must be one somewhere???

2

Well, if Land Before Time is too intense for the kids (and I agree about it being way, way too nauseating for adults) then my recommendations aren’t going to be much help, but here goes:

  • Walking With Dinosaurs - done by the BBC a couple of years ago, with Kenneth Branaugh narrating. Uses computer images inserted into natural landscapes to recreate what dinosaurs actually looked like. Just as fascinating for adults as for kids - but dinos do die, do kill and eat each other, and aren’t cuddly. My 4 year old loved it, and I really like it, too.

  • Dinosaur by Disney - too intense and violent, even compared to the Walking with Dinosaurs, which was more detached and did not give the dinosaurs names and personalities.

I don’t know - other animated dinosaurs? Barney is worse than Land Before Time…

3

Thanks, I’ll check those out!

The intensity might not be a problem. The 6 yr old had a powerful ambivalence for the Powerpuff Girls for awhile. We don’t have cable, and she decided she loved them because they were on her friends’ lunchboxes and whatnot. So when the movie came out I rented it to give it a go. It seemed okay, and Mr. Cameron really enjoyed it. So we showed it to the 6 yr old, who ran out of the room crying. But she loved the Powerpuff Girls and wanted to watch it! But it was so scary! Eventually, after much discussion and repeated viewings she came to the conclusion that

a) it was just a story and

b)the Powerpuff Girls would be all right in the end.

But she kind of has to come to terms with scary stories every time. She has a very vivid imagination. This is a child who asked me one day on the drive to school what the temperature guage on the dash was for. I explained about the engine getting too hot, and figured that was that.

Fifteen minutes later, I pull into the school parking lot, and she’s sitting bolt upright and nearly in tears. Why? She’d been anxiously watching the temperature guage, afraid the car would overheat and we’d be stuck on the side of the road. I explained that it would only happen if there was something wrong with the car, and it hardly ever happened and she shouldn’t worry about it. But you can see, she looks at “cute baby dinosaur’s mommy dies” and then works out that she would be in dire straits without her mommy, and gets very upset. I’m pretty sure that discussion would help there, I was just glad of any excuse to get rid of the sugary crap that is The Land Before Time.

Her last favorite movie, after a long run of Spirit, Stallion of the Cimmaron, was an old National Geographic special, The Volcano Watchers. Huh.

Anyway, I’ll check out those videos, they sound interesting. (And I don’t think my kids even know Barney is supposed to be a dinosaur. They were never very thrilled with the show anyway, thank the gods.)

4

Try these:

We’re Back! – animated movie with dinos, released by Spielberg about the same time as Jurassic Park – I think he wanted to have a “safe” dino movie for little kids. John Goodman voices the T. Rex. Walter Cronkite is in it!

Dinosaurs by Will Vinton – a “Claymation” short available on its own, or on The Best of the Festival of Claymation. Highly recommended.

Dinotopia, the TV miniseries.

Prehysteria and its sequels – tiny dinosaurs in present-day suburbia.
I grew up watching a gazillion dinosaur movies, of vastly differing quality. If you just wanna see dinosaurs that move, and aren’t the heros of the story, try:

One Million Years B.C. – the Ray Harryhausen film. Daddies watch this for Racquel Welch in the fur bikini, but kids know the real draw is the dinosaur.

The Valley of Gwangi – Harryhausen again. Dinosaurs in the Old West

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth – Jim Danforth effects. Curiously, most of the beasties in this aren’t technically dinosaurs, but they are done well.

King Kong – the original, of course, with great Willis O’Brien effects. Also Son of Kong.

Planet of Dinosaurs – cheapie independent film, but with dinosaurs sculpted and animated by noted dinosaur illustrators like Steve Czerkas. Features a cameo appearance by Ray Harryhausen’s Rhedosaurus from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.

Baby, the Secret of the Lost Legend – sappy Disney film in which researchers find that the Mokele-Mbembi of central Africa really is a dinosaur. “Mbembi” gets corrupted to “Baby”, the name of the baby brontosaur. Mentioned because it features a sympathetic dinosaur. Also has Patrick McGoohan as a villain.

Trog is an awful film, but it’s about the only place you’ll find the Harryhausen/O’Brien animated dinosaur scenes from the now-vanished film The Animal World.
Caveman. Ringo Starr! Jack Gilford! Catherine or Barbara Bach! Well-done dinosaurs played for laughs.

5

You think The Land Before Time is evil? You’re lucky - you haven’t been exposed to the sequels yet. (They were up to #7 last I knew). The sequels are so sickly sweet as to make the original seem like a bitter, dark comedy. The also discard the original’s greatest redeeming feature, the complete lack of musical numbers.

In short, be grateful for what you’ve seen, it could be much worse. :wink:

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I should mention that our five year old daughter, MilliCal , is addicted to the Land Before Time movies. They’re tolerable – it could be a LOT worse.

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Our 3 year old loves the BBC Walking with Dinosaurs and Disney’s Dinosaur. Alladar is the best! And he helps monkeys!

Also, there is a “sequel” to Walking with Dinosaurs called Allosaur. It is the story of Big Al, the most complete allosaur skeleton ever found.

Neither of these seem to upset our son in terms of violent or scary content. In fact, our first “death” conversation happened as a result of these movies, and it wasn’t bad at all. We talk about how all the dinosaurs died when the meteor came and they couldn’t find food anymore, and how Big Al died when he got hurt and couldn’t hunt.

There is also another CGI dino movie narrated by John Goodman, but I can’t remember the name right now. If you have seen Walking with Dinosaurs, the effects aren’t as impressive, but it’s ok.

My son likes live-action (Discovery Channel, etc) or CGI much better than cartoons.

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Actually there are 9. Plus 2 Sing-a-long tapes. So that makes 11. :stuck_out_tongue: I like them.

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Discovery has made a kid-friendlier version of Walking With Dinosaurs, basically a reditted, renarrated (by Ben Stiller) edition, called Prehistoric Planet.

10

Thanks, guys! I knew the SDMB would come through for me.

Oh, the 6 year old is already over her distress and was right in front of the TV last night. I know it could be worse, but I have to watch these things myself, often over and over, and I try to be tolerant of it–but for some reason, this particular one is just too much for me.