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9/10
Pleasant to watch, succeeding in fictional credibility.
23 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This one, another Documentary/movie combination, gives us a theory about the 'what if'. If dragon's were to be described from all over the world, and they had very distinct similarities in the ancient inscriptions and images, then 'what if' they actually existed. This movie combines the fictional find of a dragon's carcass and the slow unveiling of its features by a group of scientists, and an actual animation show going along the path of many dinosaur shows shown before on the documentary channel.

Some critics bash this one into the ground for being so unbelievable. Its pure fiction thrown into some actual believable scientific explanations. The scientists describe every great aspect and ability of the dragon's that make them unreal and impossible to exist. The excuse made up for breathing fire is not something a scientist, or just a highly educated scholar, would find credible enough to exist, but it does not turn you into someone hating the show from that moment that the actor drew his conclusion. Evolutionary there really isn't anything credible, but so what? One must understand the very essence of evolution and such to really bring all the shown theories down. And given the scientific level of most discovery/animal planet or NGC programs, these channels surely do not aim for scientists as their main goal. Plus the fact that it is compelled into a film there is nothing you should complain about.

The animation of the dragon's is very well done and albeit the fact that one, compared to the rest of the animation, very cheap scene is annoyingly often repeated, it stands its ground easily next to any other prehistoric documentary you would compare it with. The acting is not on the same level. The fake emotions and movements of the archaeologists are predictable and diminish the credibility of their story about the fossil's former capabilities. The lead investigator gives me a Daniel Jackson feeling (Archeologist from a famous Sci Fi series) in a way I do not like it. Therefore the usual pleasure of seeing people get astounded at something you, as the watcher, already know, is disturbingly absent.

If one would take another look at the scientific value, you could laugh at it. If one could ignore the most of the details and look at it in a mere entertaining way, the way a usual citizen would watch to a dinosaur documentary on the animal channel, it is truly a superb film. Something worth to establish your entire family for and enjoy the nearly 100 minutes of dragon theories. The early climax of the two mating dragons imitating the ritual of eagles clashes into your eyes and awakens your possibly slumbered attention by the water and jungle dragons, and keeps you attended to the rest of the show.

I would recommend this to anyone wanting a good show about dragon's. Do not expect too much and have yourself be awestruck by the visuals and pleasing story lines. The overall picture makes you forget the flaws and therefore I give this a nine.
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Krakatoa (2008 TV Movie)
7/10
So-So
17 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This is, for the uninitiated historians among us, the Disaster movie based off the giant volcanic eruption that rained destruction onto the world about 120 years ago.

The movie itself is played as a diary. Every occurrence on tape has been lived through by the story tellers and therefore you will see no mass slaughterings, albeit some notifications about how many victims were made by the merciless wrath of Mother Nature.

It runs, with its 87 minutes, fairly short, and it is also pretty predictable for someone with the some basic knowledge about volcanoes, or the super version of it, which the Krakatoa certainly was, and is becoming again. It lacks a few movie stereotypes like an ongoing relationship, but that is not a hazard. You will see the disobeying child, the smart dog and the loving father. But what could we do without? The special effects are fairly good, and the depiction of the mountain is done wonderfully, especially regarding the offshore adventure.

There are still some things that show off that this movie wasn't super high budget. Its pace on the survivors brings along that the worst of the eruption won't be brought to screen in its full glorious hell. Yet the scenes are entertaining enough and the before mentioned excellently pictured boat trip, along with the final avalanche which is nicely pictured. You will not see so many bird's view shots of the destruction, the special effects were apparently costly and the focus lies more on the survivors and what they had to go through onto the island. You will most probably be disappointed if you get an adrenaline boost seeing mass destruction by some sort of supervolcano, same goes for fans of the Supervolcano BBC film, which centers more around the massiveness of the cataclysm instead of focusing more on the characters as done in this movie.

Overall the picture is satisfying though if you demand too much you could get disappointed. It is informative, intriguing and well acted, despite the little lack of overview shots.
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