BWW Reviews: WALKING WITH DINOSAURS Roars Through So. Cal Arenas

Even as full grown adults, most of us still have a child-like fascination with dinosaurs, those fantastical, otherworldly, now-extinct beasts that roamed our planet a gazillion years ago. Whether plant-munching or meat-crunching... land-stomping or sky-scraping... these somewhat mythical yet completely science-proven creatures pre-date everything we see today, further elevating their cool, legendary status as fierce giants that once ruled our planet before a catastrophic event supposedly wiped them all away.

Of course, all we have as empirical evidence of dinosaurs' actual existence are the mounds of ancient fossils that have been continually excavated for centuries. These important biological leftovers---combined with science-backed postulations---have helped researchers and scientists paint a visual picture of what these mighty prehistoric creatures may have looked, sounded, and acted like during their heydays---which, in turn, helped ignite and excite many a young kid's (and even many adults, like director Steven Spielberg's) imagination and wide-eyed curiosity.

And because these creatures don't exactly walk about in the flesh in our world these days, seeing them re-created in life-like scale---even inside a museum or, heck, a theme park---is often a jaw-dropping experience. I mean, dang...these things were friggin' huge!

That ooohh and aaahh wide-eyed wonder---the same one that the characters in Spielberg's e-ticket classic Jurassic Park exuded upon seeing living dinosaurs for the first time---is exactly the feeling that the producers of WALKING WITH DINOSAURS - THE ARENA SPECTACULAR are aiming for... and, for the most part, they get it from the audience.

Going above-and-beyond your typical museum diorama or, heck, even the Disney-fied animatronic showcase crammed in a corner of OC's most famous attraction, WALKING WITH DINOSAURS is a dino-lover's dream: a wondrous feat of technology, theatrical magic, and imagination---bringing to (virtual) life those figures that continue to scare/fascinate every kid (and kid-at-heart).

Billed as an "arena spectacular" (and rightly so---only large venues could hold such towering creations), the visually-stunning show is based on the BBC television series of the same name, which, since its first arena shows in Australia, have become a hit, globally-touring show. The production's North American tour has now swung back around to Southern California, first at the Honda Center in Orange County through September 7, then later up a few freeways to the Staple Center in Los Angeles from September 11-14.

Edu-tainment at its showiest, WALKING WITH DINOSAURS is essentially a "cooler" science class show-and-tell presentation with, well, one extraordinarily bigger budget.

When the show begins, we are introduced to an affable, pun-loving paleontologist named Huxley (played by the likable Lucas Worth) who narrates the show throughout by mixing bits of tween-friendly snark with compressed bullet-point factoids about the planet's very early history and what kinds of dinosaurs thrived within specific eras of Earth's tumultuous timeline---from the early centuries of Pangaea to their eventual extinction.

As our tiny (by comparison) human guide traverses the arena floor, one by one the dinosaurs of each "era" (as in Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous) enter like confident rock stars, roaring and, yes, walking (well, all except one) as if they're actually in their natural habitats. The surroundings, too, morph from one era to another, thanks to theatrical lighting, smoke, and high-def projections as well as the magical inflation of instant vegetation (this actually made me snicker a bit).

Many of the species' superstars are represented in the show: from the Stegosaurus and the Allosaurus, to the Torosaurus and even the high-flying Ornithocheirus.

Many of the dinos also enter as part of some territorial/instinctual dispute between predator and prey---but, fear not parents, no real blood is shed during any of the "battles" so the kids won't be scarred by the relatively tame action (however, a carcass of a dead dino does get lunched on during the show's second half). Hilariously, though, some poop magically piles up at one point.

Some, like the predatory Utahraptors (still the scariest of creatures for me) are relatively human-height, and are puppeteered by one disguised human (much of the mechanics reminded me of the puppetry in WAR HORSE). The larger creatures, on the other hand (like the 56-foot Brachiosaurus), tower high above, sometimes eye-level to those in the upper balconies of the arena (these are animatronic and are driven around like a float).

It's quite a wow moment... one of several, actually.

Almost immediately, you'll notice the creatures' life-size authenticity. But upon closer inspection, you'll note how much their epidermic surfaces and animalistic movements feel so life-like that it's hard to believe they're all man-made creations that combine creative fabrications with puppetry and animatronics. Even a dinosaur's simple act of chewing off a branch from a tall tree feels as if we're visiting them in an open-air zoo frozen in time.

"That is sooo cool!" screams every kid sitting around me.

Well, can you blame their reaction? (Although, personally, I could have gone without the non-stop running commentary of "facts" from the enthusiastic kid sitting behind me... but then I thought, this kid's going to rule the world someday).

And yet, despite the show's monumental scale, superb visuals (volcanoes, and oceans, and trees, oh my!) and the life-like behavior of its animatronic menagerie, that is pretty much where the novelty of WALKING WITH DINOSAURS ends. For adults, it will seem like nothing more than a higher-priced, albeit pretty neat, science class---and a very lengthy one at that.

At some point, after one of the ten dinosaurs walks around and around and around the arena multiple times, many will find themselves looking at their watches, impatiently waiting for the next creature to just come in already (though, admittedly, once the Tyrannosaurus Rex finally makes its grand entrance at the finale, I became as giddy as a little school boy).

But that's just it... the kids, of course, will absolutely love it... which is great since they are exactly the very people this show is aiming to please most of all.

Follow this reviewer on Twitter: @cre8iveMLQ

Photos by Patrick Murphy, courtesy of Global Creatures/BBC Worldwide Ltd/Honda Center.

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Performances of WALKING WITH DINOSAURS - THE ARENA SPECTACULAR continue at the Honda Center in Anaheim through September 7. Additional performances begin at the Staple Center in Los Angeles, September 11 - 14.

For more information, visit www.dinosaurlive.com.

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