Prehistoric beasts steal the limelight

I’m not usually one for overblown arena spectaculars. Even when a great band like U2 or Muse are coming to town to perform live, I often wonder if the visual spectacle is going to overshadow the talent. This could well have been the case when it came to Walking With Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular – whose stars are not even flesh and blood, but mechanical animals that could easily have wavered (you know what they say about working with animals; let alone mechanical ones). Rather, these giant ‘beasts’ put on an excellent show – impressing myself and a member of the generation above me, my good ol’ dad.

Dad, in fact, was slack-jawed for most of the production seen in the Perth on the weekend, amazed at the sheer size of these animated dinosaurs, especially when it came to the bigger players like Tyrannosaurus Rex and some of the Sauropods (long-necked plant eaters). I must admit, even I found it all pretty awesome.

Walking With Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular premiered in Melbourne in 2007 and has gone on to become a worldwide phenomenon. It follows the success of the BBC series and a film version, and is basically a tour through prehistoric Earth, from the earliest Triassic to the late Cretaceous periods.

The host of the show is a mock paleontologist, Huxley, played by Andrew Blackman, who, despite a lot of his ‘step right up, step right up’ affectations, manages to deliver enough fact to warrant the hype.

As magnificent mechanised creatures roam around the stage, Blackman presents facts, figures and fossil evidence for dinosaur existence, evolution and behaviour.

The huge creatures are impressive, to say the least, ranging from the cutest hopping babies to bigger, armoured species.

While there are a few cheesy circus theatrics to the production that border on the naff, in sum, Walking With Dinosaurs is quality infotainment appealing to all ages. Even punters who’d seen it last time ’round liked the fact that “T-Rex looked a bit different this time”.  Antonino Tati

‘Walking With Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular’ next makes its way to Adelaide, playing the Adelaide Entertainment Centre April 25 and 26. Tickets are available at www.ticketek.com.au.