Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure
Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure is a 2007 American IMAX 3D documentary film by National Geographic, about prehistoric marine reptiles. It alternates modern-day sequences about the work of scientists studying the animals with computer-animated scenes depicting the prehistoric past.
Sea Monsters was well received by critics. The tie-in video game, however, was heavily criticized.
Plot
Brings to life some of the most bizarre, ferocious and fascinating creatures to ever inhabit the ocean. Combines animation with recreations in a prehistoric adventure. A journey to the bottom of the ancient oceans dramatizes awe-inspiring creatures.Prehistory segments
The protagonist of the story is Dolly, a female Dolichorhynchops who travels the Kansas Inland Sea with her family, 80 million years ago during the late Cretaceous period.They encounter various creatures, including, Tylosaurus, Xiphactinus, Cretoxyrhina, and Ammonites.
Dolly gets attacked by a shark after her mother was killed by another shark. Dolly survives due to a passing Tylosaurus killing the shark, albeit with a tooth embedded in her flipper. Later, Dolly's brother is swallowed whole by a young Tylosaurus, who in turn is killed by a larger member of its kind, leaving Dolly alone. Dolly survives to adulthood and goes on to have young of her very own. After seasons of traveling around the Inland sea, Dolly finally dies peacefully of old age.
Live-action segments
- South Australia, 2002: Two paleontologists in the Australian Outback discovered plesiosaurs, 95% of them juveniles.
- Central Texas, 1980: A road crew near Austin, Texas, discover ammonite fossils in a quarry. During the Cretaceous, Texas was underwater and the quarry was part of the Permian Basin.
- Western Kansas, 1918: Charles Sternberg and his sons Levi and George discover a 29-foot-long Tylosaurus that had a Dolichorhynchops in it.
- Phosphate Mine, Negev Desert, Israel, 1998: A quarry in Europe reveals a mosasaur skull.
- Western Kansas, 1952: George Sternberg, Charles's older son, makes a discovery in Gove County, Kansas. A 13-foot-long Xiphactinus containing, below the ribs, a 6-foot-long fish, a Gillicus, which took up about half of the length of the Xiphactinus, killing it instantly.
- North Dakota, 1995: Two amateur collectors go into a cave in North Dakota, and find a wealth of teeth from sharks, specifically Cretoxyrhina and Squalicorax.
- The Netherlands, 1998: A Dutch quarry reveals a mosasaur skeleton with bite marks from sharks.
- South Dakota, 1978: The Badlands National Park, in Rapid City, South Dakota, reveals a Tylosaurus skeleton that had eaten multiple creatures in one meal.
Creatures featured
- AmmoniteBaculites Bananogmius, an extinct genus of bony fishCaproberyx, an extinct genus of bony fishCretoxyrhina, a large sharkDolichorhynchops, a genus of plesiosaur and the main animal in the film.Enchodus, an extinct genus of bony fishGillicus, a relatively small, 2-meter long ichthyodectid fishGorgosaurus, a genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaurHenodus, a placodont with an elaborate shell of the Late Triassic periodHesperornis, an extinct genus of flightless aquatic birdsInoceramus, an extinct genus of giant clam
- Jellyfish Kronosaurus, an extinct genus of short-necked pliosaurLeptecodon, a genus of prehistoric fishNothosaurus, an extinct genus of sauropterygian reptilePlatecarpus, an extinct genus of aquatic lizard belonging to the mosasaur familyProtosphyraena, a fossil genus of swordfish-like marine fishProtostega, an extinct species of marine turtlePteranodon, one of the largest pterosaur generaSqualicorax, a genus of extinct lamniform sharkStyxosaurus, a genus of plesiosaur of the family ElasmosauridaeTemnodontosaurus, a big ichthyosaur Tusoteuthis, a genus of Cretaceous cephalopod molluscsTylosaurus, a giant mosasaurUintacrinus, a floating colonial crinoidXiphactinus, a long predatory bony fish
Soundtrack
The film's ambient soundtrack was composed by Richard Evans. David Rhodes and Peter Gabriel performed the end credits song "Different Stories Different Lives". The soundtrack has never been officially released.Release
The film was released on October 5, 2007. It was promoted with a line of toys from Wild Republic. It won the "Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project" award at the Visual Effects Society Awards 2007.Reception
The film earned a 100% "Fresh" rating from 12 positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. John Anderson of Variety wrote "the science seems sound and the story is exciting", and found it superior to 3D films that merely use the extra dimension as a gimmick. Matt Seitz of The New York Times was impressed by the digital spectacle. The Seattle Times, Orlando Sentinel and Chicago Tribune were of much the same mind.Video game
Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure was made into a game by DSI Games and published by Zoo Digital Publishing. It was released on the Wii, PlayStation 2, and Nintendo DS on October 25, 2007. Players can control Thalassomedon, Henodus, Temnodontosaurus, Tylosaurus, Dolichorhynchops and Nothosaurus in an open-world setting, with no fixed goal besides collecting all the hidden fossils.Unlike the film it's based on, the game received poor reviews across all platforms.