Walking with Dinosaurs 3D 2013

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: You could write "Walking With Dinosaurs'' off as harmless filler for the under-5 set, except that the only female dinosaur, Juniper, exists solely to moon over Patchi, who as a hatchling lost part of an ear to a winged predator. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: It's unlikely that a dinosaur wrote the script-the Writers Guild of America makes no provision for Cambrian membership-but this animated feature is dimwitted all the same. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Collee piles on references to such distinctly human concepts as ninjas and ballet, while 21st-century expressions ("Worst migration ever!") and a forgettable selection of pop tunes feel instantly biodegradable. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: Not only saddles its prehistoric attractions with sassy banter, but also inserts them into an impossibly generic coming-of-age adventure. Read more

Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic: Unfortunately, there's no majestic visual this movie can't undercut with bathroom humor as the charmless characters chatter simply to fill the space. Not even aurora borealis is spared. Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: However well-intentioned the movie may be, it spills over with flat cutesy humor, making a slog out of an experience that should be filled with wonder. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Unfortunately the filmmakers must have been worried that the science lesson, though perfectly engaging on a visual level, would bore small children, so the movie is stuffed with glib, unfunny wisecracks along the lines of Shrek. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: Educational content, clever CGI, and John Leguizamo as a prehistoric bird. Read more

Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter: First-rate CG effects do battle with third-rate dialogue in this 3D adventure based on acclaimed BBC series. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Kids love dinosaurs. But only the littlest kids will love Walking with Dinosaurs. Read more

Neil Genzlinger, New York Times: The movie looks great, the writing is peppered with moments of wit, and there's even an educational component built in as dinosaur facts are displayed on the screen. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: Walking With Dinosaurs is too good a visual treat to miss, especially if you catch the 3-D version. But don't expect to enjoy the predictable, paper-thin story. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The good intentions are fossilized under the cutesy poop. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Walking With Dinosaurs 3D is about as dumbed-down as nature cinema can get (at least their lips don't move), made even worse by stereotyped male-female roles that really do hearken back to the Stone Age. Read more

Todd Gilchrist, TheWrap: An insufferable family adventure whose impressive animation is consistently undercut by cartoonish self-awareness. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The photo-realistic look is striking, but the dialogue is occasionally wince-inducing. Think a sub-par Flintstones episode. Read more

Inkoo Kang, Village Voice: The only solace from the uninspired characters and crammed-in factoids are the gags about poop and puke - juvenile, yes, but also appropriate for the film's "back to nature" ethos. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: You'd think it'd be hard to screw up a movie about dinosaurs, and yet Hollywood keeps doing so. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: Aesthetic attention to detail, even when it's painstaking, goes only so far when the content is mediocre. Read more