Dir. Matthew Dyas, UK, 2010, 40 mins
Cast: David Attenborough
Review by Francesca Neagle
Two hundred million years ago an extraordinary development in the history of life on earth led to an ancient group of reptiles making a giant evolutionary leap into the skies. So who better than Sir David Attenborough, a name synonymous with a wealth of enthralling nature documentaries, to write and narrate such a captivating insight on this subject? And where better to see it than on the big screen, and in 3D, to appreciate the dynamics and visual perspective of these enormous pterosaurs?
The central question Flying Monsters 3D sets out to answer is how and why did they fly? How did such creatures, which we learn were the size of giraffes, begin defying gravity and soar through prehistoric skies? Attenborough travels back in time to discover this, and why, after 150 million years of aerial domination, they vanished. And thanks to some evolutionary advances in film production itself, one can’t help but feel Attenborough’s pulsating boyish enthusiasm more than ever, as he pursues a gigantic pterosaur with a fifty-foot wingspan…in a glider. This is David Attenborough at his best: He was controller of BBC Two when colour was introduced in 1967, and is now breaking new ground in the use of 3D technology.
To use an evolutionary analogy, 3D is only really just beginning, and it is still adapting to the demands of a discerning worldwide television, gaming, and film audience. It is often criticized for adding nothing to the experience and being a distraction. But on the whole, it is difficult to project this criticism onto this documentary. The medium is a visual delight as well as a useful enhancement to Attenborough’s explanations. Fossils are reconstructed into the amazing creatures they once were with a gesture of the hand. There are perhaps one or two scenes that, whilst charming, perhaps come across as a little silly: We see him sitting at a monitor in a hi-tech computer-generated lab, studying a 3D model of a pterosaur. To his apparent surprise and delight, the pterosaur clambers through the screen and onto the keyboard. “Where’s he off to now?” laughs Attenborough, as the dinosaur stretches its computer-generated wings and implausibly alights on a nearby old-fashioned coat-rack.
This is a beautifully narrated educational story, uncovering the fact that the marvel of pterosaur flight has evolutionary echoes that resonate even today. And what other captivating, scientifically-accurate film with such an engaging leading man could you see on the big screen, that could rival any Hollywood blockbuster for special effects?
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