Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure (National Geographic)

I was never got to watch the movie. The DVD is just blank, I want to get another one just like it please. I bought August 17.2022

My, 9 year old, daughter wants to be a marine biologist. This played non-stop for 2 months in our house.I will say that there is a scene that may be too much for kids this age. It does show some of the animals eating other animals.

Though told in a semi documentary style, the story of the life of an aquatic dinosaur from a couple million years ago is fascinating and instructive . Using actual fossils found by scientists to illustrate the tale, the narrative and clever CGI showed the trials and pitfalls of a creature who lived and died a long time ago, yet was so compellingly told that you’re caught up in the drama. Excellent for adults snd children, graphic enough to seem realistic but not too violent for the kids.

This National Geographic video follows the life of an extinct Dolichorhynchops, a dolphin-sized short-necked plesiosaur from the late Cretaceous. This animal lived in the amazingly diverse inland sea which was centered in Kansas during that time period. The presentation switched back and forth between fossil hunters and recreations of the "dolly's" life. In that life, the dolly encounters a number of other ocean creatures including a shark which wounds it and a long necked Styxosaurus. The film makers also pay strong attention to the Tylosaurs (please see photograph included with this review) which were at the top of the food chain. Most interesting to me is the fossil of a "fish within a fish" whereby a 13 foot Xiphactinus swallowed a smaller (6 foot) Gillicus fish and then seems to have died from damage inflicted on its internal organs. What an incredible glutton, and yes I double checked the length of the two fish. The fossil of these intertwined fish is currently on display at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, Kansas according to the presentation, and I think the Sternberg Museum just made my bucket list. In sum, I found this to be an excellent film, although I wish it had been longer and more comprehensive. Also just FYI--There is also a beautiful Dolichorhynchops skeleton at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC. For more information on this lost ocean world see Michael Everhart's Oceans of Kansas, A History of the Western Interior Sea. Oceans of Kansas: A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea (Life of the Past)

DVD freezes about 20 min in and then again once moreI got this for my son who is 5 and he is super bummed.

A wonderful video for anyone interested in all kinds of nature. There are many different prehistoric sea animals featured here, including: Tylosaurus, Hesperornis, and Kronosaurus. Squalicorax, a type of shark that grew to 16' 3", is also featured. It tells the story of a Dolichorhynchops named Dolly, who is attacked by a Cretoxyrhina (a shark that grew to 23 feet long). She survives, but her mother is killed. A young Tylosaurus kills her brother, but in turn, the young Tylosaurus is eaten by an older Tylosaurus, and Dolly is alone. Then Dolly becomes a mother and bears three young of her own. After many seasons in the inland sea, Dolly dies of old age.This is additionally a good video in my book because some of the background music is by Peter Gabriel, one of my favorite singers! I recommend this to someone with an interests in prehistoric times.

Great value

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.

I chose this item because I love to learn about dinosaurs, especially since I'm in the paleontology program at the University of Alberta. I was extremely disappointed. The narrator personified the marine reptiles to the extent that any person older than 10 simply would not believe. The creatures would not behave in the fashion portrayed in this dvd. Not worth the $20 I spent.

On peut y voir des animaux marins préhistoriques comme le fameux Tylosaurus dévorer d'autres animaux.

Discovered I already had this DVD but it's still great

The children enjoyed watching this, if it was a bit longer it would be much better, but otherwise a nice video.

Great