Dinotasia is a "nature film" about dinosaurs and how they might have behaved. Using scientific theories, German filmmaker Werner Herzog narrates the film as the viewer is taken on a journey through time, starting some 250 million years ago spanning the globe and ending right as the cataclysmic meteor crashes into the Earth. The film begins as a CG animation and then becomes a mixture of live action locations and scenery with CG creature overlays. For the most part, the animation looks pretty good, aside from some serious pixilation in the first few minutes of the film. There are also a few times when there’s some extremely fake looking blood and several other times when small CG creatures like bugs were overlaid on top of the existing CG dinosaurs. Doing this caused a disconnect in the visuals and made the smaller CG creatures look like an afterthought. It’s a shame, since both animations were CG and the two should have been able to be seamlessly paired.

Various vignettes are covered in the course of the film and include rivalries between dinosaurs, the herding instinct, mating rituals (in the special features) and more. Since this is a nature documentary of sorts, expect things to be pretty harsh. Dinosaurs, both old and young, die regularly and parents abandon their injured young, leaving them to fend for themselves. Although there’s some interesting information contained in this film, I don’t suggest it for very young kids as it can be disturbing. I did enjoy how the filmmakers imparted personality to many of the dinosaurs, the likes of which we don’t typically see. In one specific vignette, a young dino is happily frolicking with the dried out skull of another creature and accidentally romps into the paths of a different breed of dinosaurs who don’t appreciate his giddiness. His playful attitude results in a serious injury and a penchant for revenge that lasts for over a decade.

While I could go my whole life without seeing CG dinosaurs mating, I must say I found the deleted mating ritual scene to be pretty hilarious. Seeing a brilliantly colored prehistoric bird doing an elaborate mating dance set to Spanish music was quite amusing. Other special features include several deleted and extended scenes, an animatic, and some strange reference video involving one of the filmmakers mimicking a dinosaur with his hand and crawling around on the floor.

Overall, I found Dinotasia to be educational, but not particularly enthralling. Perhaps for the dinosaur enthusiast, the opportunity to view dinosaurs (even CG dinosaurs) in what could have been their actual behavior might be incredibly appealing, but for me, it was just okay.