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Don't turn around, the der dinosaur is in town uh-oh
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Eye Without A Face
When Jurassic Park opened in '93, I waited for eight hours in line to see it. And then three to see it again. Then two...you get the picture. With the same obsession enthusiasm, I went to see "Walking With Dinosaurs: The Live Experience" last night at Staples Center. I’m glad that I only waited ten minutes.
Once inside: giant dinosaur teeth flanking the stage, and three giant rock formations in the floor's center. Before we meet the dinosaurs, avuncular paleontologist Huxley-James Roberts, doing circus MC/kids’ show smart guy in sciencey chinos-comes out and sets the stage, explaining the tectonics of the earth's original supercontinent, pangea, eventually breaking into minor supercontinents. This cleared up some confusion about how dinosaurs on a single land mass ended up living near Summer from The OC. Even with the kid-friendly performance, the grownups needed an introduction refresher in conifers. His evolution references may have made some audience members uncomfortable, but he had me at brown messenger bag.
Originated in Australia, the show covers several periods (Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous) of the dinosaurs' 200 million year reign. The puppet and animatronic dinosaurs mean to re-enact scenes specific to that era, including predator chasing prey (allosaurus vs. the looong necked brachiosaurus), males butting heads to determine pack leader status (the looks-like-he-sounds torosaurus) and a mother protecting her child (tyrannosaurus rex). But was it believable? Science nerds (I'm merely an enthusiast) have blogged about the show being "lite" (sic) on science. Others have said that it doesn't matter. Variety, Newsweek and The New York Times had great things to say. At times, I wondered if we had all seen the same show.
For someone who has laid in bed at night wishing that somehow there could be a real Jurassic Park, seeing life-size dinosaurs in such proximity was a revelation. The dinosaurs’ vivid brownish-green coloring and skin texture, movement and gait, bone size and structure, the life behind their eyes-all of it brought me closer to these creatures. It was like being on the set of Jurassic Park (with live CGI?!) instead of watching the movie. And Huxley's editorial comments about what they ate (us, if we'd been there) and what they were capable of deepened the experience. But in many ways, Jurassic Park did it better.
The problem is that the show’s presentational style detached us from getting the full effect. Yes, instead of watching dinosaurs contend with Laura Dern's "shocked" face, and Jeff Goldblum's boozy improv, we saw them in their own battle and familial soap operas. But the weak direction had them clustered around one part of the floor. The folks sitting in that section got the show of a lifetime as the brachiosaurus and T-rex craned their heads right over them, letting out guttural yelps. Maybe they paid more, but I doubt it. It was as if the director didn't understand horseshoe seating. Maybe he should ask Bono. And there were large chunks of time where the creatures, even during battle sequences, just stood around with dead space between them. It was like watching actors during a blocking rehearsal telling the director, "I think it makes more sense for me to enter here, and then cross in front of him to get the phone" while across the stage, others checked their blackberries
The Fiance noted that the show's creators treated the creatures as if they were fragile, carefully allowing for limited contact. So even as the T-rex went for the dumb, but heavily armored ankylosaurus, he did a LOT of milling, like Scramento trying to pass the budget. And don't get me started on the ornithocheirus just hanging there for 10 minutes simulating the dinosaurs' move across the Atlantic. I know that these creatures took years to conceive and create with fits and starts along the way. But with that much time and money, they should have made them less fragile, gave them better direction and made them seem less like "Triassics on Ice".
But there is hope: In attendance were couples on dates, like TF and me, groups of oldsters getting their liliensternus on, and then there were...the kids. Riveted. Enraptured. Utahraptured (too tempting). In their minds they were there, trying to avoid an attack from the stegosaurus' spiny tail, eating prop plants like the herbivore plateosaurus, calling for their Moms like the baby T-rex. It was their own Chili Peppers concert, and their arms were in the air singing "Give it away now!". So for the kids, I give it two tiny T-rex arms up. For grown-ups, it's still worth it. Just give it a year or so to perfect the direction. Unless a giant comet hits it first.
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