When Dinosaurs Roamed America
For dino lovers of all stripes, this Discovery Channel special delivers an entertaining documentary about what it was like to live in the land of giants. Combining nature photography and computer graphics, the program brings the dinosaurs--all of which lived on the North American continent of yore--to life. The 90-minute showcase explores dinosaurs with a narrative-story style similar to that used in BBC'sWalking with Dinosaurs. The program includes quick, informative bits by paleontologists in the field, and shows nifty 3-D cross-sections of a dinosaur muscle and skeleton structures. Although it's quite fun to see what prehistoric America may have looked like (a typical opening slide: "Philadelphia, 300 million years ago"), the film doesn't have the technical expertise or fluidity of its BBC successor. Due to some dinosaur chomping, this program is not suited for children younger than 8.--Doug Thomas