Chased By Dinosaurs

With each successive effort, the digital wizards at Framestore CFC (Europe's largest computer-animation company) rise to new heights of photorealism, interactive lighting effects, and biological authenticity. And while Marven's a fair educator and a robust adventurer, more science-minded viewers will appreciate the 50-minute bonus program "The Science of Giants," centering on the behavior of massive dinosaurs and the efforts of renowneds paleontologist Philip Currie to prove that "megacarnivores"--once thought to roam alone--actually hunted in packs. This is really amazing stuff, and the helpful "Fact Files" provide detailed profiles of every dinosaur and sea creature featured in these memorable programs. --Jeff Shannon

Like the best of Jurassic Park but without all the subplots, Nigel Marven is a Jeff Corwin / Crocodile Dundee like character who time travels to prehistoric times (how he does it is never explained but that is really irrelevant) and brings us right with him into the adventure.

He gets into all kinds of interesting confrontations with dinosaurs on land, air, and sea and tries stuff that no sane human would attempt. Although some of his bravado backfires on him, this makes the whole premise at somewhat more believable.

The integration of live action, animation, and CGI is simply amazing. Taking some 21st Century technology with him, one scene has Nigel in an ultra-light flying amidst huge pterosaurs. Another has him actually catching a small dino in his "camp".

This is certainly the lightest episode but at the same time perhaps most interesting one in the series. Highly entertaining and you might even learn something new too!

A must see for dino-fans!


Oh no, talking heads enter the 'Walking with' series   December 31, 2003
23 out of 26 found this review helpful

Why stray from a successful formula?

First off, hats off to Framestore, the animation company behind Chased by Dinosaurs, their work is truly first rate, especially the intergration of human and CG elements. At times there work is so good it's totally real, just take a look at the Megaladon episode to see some of the best CG work anywhere in the world IMO. Flawless intergration, far better than ILM in the recent JP movies IMO. There are some pretty complex shots in this series and one could imagine they took a lot longer to animate than in the original series of Walking with Dinosaurs.

The problem, and it's a big one... only around 1/3 of each episode is animation, the rest is Nigel Marvin talking or pretending to follow these obviously 'imaginery' animals Crocodile Hunter style. The novelty quickly wears off. Now each Walking with Dinosaurs episode felt short at 30 minutes of animation, now that they've reduced that by 60 percent to effectively 10 or so minutes an episode, the series really loses much of it's appeal and rewatchibility value. Nigel is entertaining enough and a decent actor, but let's face, we want to see the dinosaurs and this form of 'cheating' doesn't go unnoticed. It's akin to the trick's Spielberg used in Jurassic park - 3 seconds of animation - 1 minute of someone's face going 'wow'. It's not fooling anyone. The only good thing about this is that you can see the size of the dinosaurs relative to a human now, but again, I would have swapped that for an episode full of animation.

Anyway, apart from that, this is first rate stuff, a must buy all the same for any dinosaur fan, these are the most realistic dinos and sea creatures created to date, and include some fascinating specimens such as the massive Gigantosaurus and the biggest Sauropod of recent times, the Argentinosaurus, fascinating creatures, i just wish they'd made the series in the form of 'Walking with Dinosaurs and Walking with Beasts', rather than introduce the talking head theatrics.


The best of recent dino DVDs by BBC and Discovery Channel   March 18, 2005
H. David Peirce (Houston, TX USA)
20 out of 21 found this review helpful

My 6-year old son has 4 of the recent dino DVDs created with computer-generated graphics:

* Chased by Dinosaurs (BBC)
* Allosaurus (BBC)
* Walking With Dinosaurs (BBC)
* Dinosaur Planet (Discovery Channel)

I have reviewed all the others, too.

The BBC productions are all far better quality than Dinosaur Planet. But Dinosaur Planet has longer stories, and the dinos are given names and more personality, which appeals to kids.

Of the BBC productions, Chased by Dinosaurs is the best. They are all exceptional. You'd think somebody managed to go back in time and shoot film of real dinosaurs. In fact, that is the plot of Chased by Dinosaurs. The host, Nigel Marvin, is something of a "dinosaur hunter", ala the Crocodile Hunter series. He goes back in time and interacts with marvelous dinosaurs in 3 long episodes. The animation is brilliant! In one moment, Nigel captures a small bird-like dinosaur. In another, a T-Rex nearly back into Nigel, who is hiding in the bushes. The animation is just mind-blowing.

This is absolutely my son's favorite. He's old enough to know that Nigel Marvin didn't really go back in time. But he's young enough to be absolutely delighted by the possibility.


Time Travel TV   January 7, 2006
Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA USA)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful

If mankind ever invented a real time travel machine this is just the type of documentary the BBC would make. Two episodes of Chased by Dinosaurs plus three episodes of Chased by Sea Monsters make this DVD a real deal. It also has lots of extras and Nigel Marvin is the zoologist who is sent back in time to explore the past. Because he is a real zoologist he knows just how to deal with the predators and their prey, but sometimes he DOES get in over his head and even lost his temper once. 150 minutes, with English subtitles for the deaf or hard of hearing, I have to give the BBC, the Discovery Channel and ProSieben a big two-thumbs up. Because of the predator-prey interaction I would not suggest this DVD for really young kids.


Nearly As Good As the First!   July 25, 2004
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

"Chased" is a brilliant installment in a great series of Walking With spin-offs that gives a new perspective on dinosaurs. My only complaint is that actor because he ruins the prehistoric atmosphere. This installment has some very unique dinosaurs that were too advanced to show to an average audience in its predecessor, and being an aspiring dino nerd, I know these dinosaurs and it truly brings them to life. As it being a Walking With special, it makes it much better to see these dinosaurs now than in the American dinosaur documentaries although this one continues to give no support to the idea of feathered dinosaurs. The Giganotosaurus and Argentinosaurus special feauture is very interesting and makes you feel like you're following the path of the paleontologists. By far, Chased by Sea Monsters is the best part. It shows insight on pre-dinosaur eras with the ferocious, (barfing, you'll understand if you watch) Dunkleosteus. It shows the horror of the Mosasaurs and a horrifying look at Megalodon in an encounter with a literal prehistoric Jaws. If you purchase this DVD, you're loss of money will not go in vein!