Ice Age Giants - A Retrospective Review*
Oct 23, 2023 5:12:58 GMT 5
Life and Infinity Blade like this
Post by dinosauria101 on Oct 23, 2023 5:12:58 GMT 5
I know I said I would not entertainment-review Ice Age Giants but I might sort of be able to if I approach it from a different angle.
Let us begin with WHY I did not want to review it: too much Alice Roberts talking head and probably a whole lot of dishonesty.
Let’s just hope that this won’t be another Ice Age Giants. That documentary also advertised itself using some truly great animation (e.g. trailer→), but sadly once it came out it was revealed that what we saw on the trailer was almost all the animation that’s in the entire program, with most of it just being the presenter talking and looking at stuff, for which there was no indication beforehand.
Then....I looked at it differently. Since the trailer is really appealing (being literally nothing but stunning music and CGI), I might as well review it: after all, it does have almost all of the animation in the program, so I don't have to search through whole talking head episodes to find teensy bits of animals.
You can basically read my review as if it's reviewing a 1 minute and 23 second short film about the ice age.
-We begin with a HUMONGOUS horned woolly rhino, and also are introduced to the upbeat, lighthearted music that is the track for the first half of the trailer.
-Then a cave bear getting her cubs in line. There are grizzly bear sfx used here: very appropriate if you ask me.
-Following that, an interestingly light colored ground sloth with black stripes on its face. I dig this color pattern.
Unfortunately for the sloth, it's being stalked by a Smilodon.
-Up next, a herd of some unusual mammoths(?), which I would be inclined to say are woolly mammoths but the hair is too short and the tusks are not curved enough. Anyone know what these are?
-Unexpectedly, what follows is a swimming (or drowning?) glyptodont.
-And then a baby mammoth(?), presumably belonging to the herd from before. It sucks its trunk some, how adorable LOL.
But unfortunately for it, it joins the sloth in the trailer's list of animals that are being stalked by Smilodon. Two of them, in fact.
-What follows is a breathtaking shot of a mixed bison/woolly mammoth herd, with a closeup and nice sfx too. And the CGI mammoths blend in well with the real bison.
-To get viewers nervous, we then get a cave lion stalking some cave bears in a dark cave (duh!), and baring its claws during the stalk for extra effect.
But the bear fights back, and the music gets louder and faster for the second half of the trailer.
-We get back to the Smilodon and baby mammoth, who is being attacked by them.
-Then back to the glyptodonts: it looks like 2 males engaging in some antagonistic behavior.
-Ditto what happens when we get back to those mammoths(?). Only these 2 are fighting next to a female with her calf - maybe they are fighting over her?
-We get back to the sloth: it is ambushed by the Smilodon and swipes to defend itself.
-After that it's the woolly rhinos fighting.
-Then a check in on the cave lion and cave bear fight.
-Following that, back to Smilodon: but not one we were shown before. This one rushes forward, leaps onto a horse, and pulls it down by its neck to make a killer bite.
-Finally, the cave bear apparently drives the cave lions away: more appropriately used grizzly bear SFX here.
Overall Verdict:
I'd say it's just about 10/10 in terms of ground covered. If they're going to give me an ice age rundown in under a minute and a half, they struck a sweet spot here with their combo of a wide range of animals that we still check back in on - never mind the mentioned stunning soundtrack (What song is that? Anyone know?) and CGI.
For comparison, in terms of Ice Age Giants as a whole I would probably give it a 20% or so rating. Haven't seen it but I really hate the expectation-crushing the talking head-free trailer does and am not big on most talking head documentaries anyway.
In fact, the high rating I give the trailer on its own plays into the low rating of the documentary. A 10/10 trailer to be so misleading just sucks.
Let us begin with WHY I did not want to review it: too much Alice Roberts talking head and probably a whole lot of dishonesty.
You can basically read my review as if it's reviewing a 1 minute and 23 second short film about the ice age.
-We begin with a HUMONGOUS horned woolly rhino, and also are introduced to the upbeat, lighthearted music that is the track for the first half of the trailer.
-Then a cave bear getting her cubs in line. There are grizzly bear sfx used here: very appropriate if you ask me.
-Following that, an interestingly light colored ground sloth with black stripes on its face. I dig this color pattern.
Unfortunately for the sloth, it's being stalked by a Smilodon.
-Up next, a herd of some unusual mammoths(?), which I would be inclined to say are woolly mammoths but the hair is too short and the tusks are not curved enough. Anyone know what these are?
-Unexpectedly, what follows is a swimming (or drowning?) glyptodont.
-And then a baby mammoth(?), presumably belonging to the herd from before. It sucks its trunk some, how adorable LOL.
But unfortunately for it, it joins the sloth in the trailer's list of animals that are being stalked by Smilodon. Two of them, in fact.
-What follows is a breathtaking shot of a mixed bison/woolly mammoth herd, with a closeup and nice sfx too. And the CGI mammoths blend in well with the real bison.
-To get viewers nervous, we then get a cave lion stalking some cave bears in a dark cave (duh!), and baring its claws during the stalk for extra effect.
But the bear fights back, and the music gets louder and faster for the second half of the trailer.
-We get back to the Smilodon and baby mammoth, who is being attacked by them.
-Then back to the glyptodonts: it looks like 2 males engaging in some antagonistic behavior.
-Ditto what happens when we get back to those mammoths(?). Only these 2 are fighting next to a female with her calf - maybe they are fighting over her?
-We get back to the sloth: it is ambushed by the Smilodon and swipes to defend itself.
-After that it's the woolly rhinos fighting.
-Then a check in on the cave lion and cave bear fight.
-Following that, back to Smilodon: but not one we were shown before. This one rushes forward, leaps onto a horse, and pulls it down by its neck to make a killer bite.
-Finally, the cave bear apparently drives the cave lions away: more appropriately used grizzly bear SFX here.
Overall Verdict:
I'd say it's just about 10/10 in terms of ground covered. If they're going to give me an ice age rundown in under a minute and a half, they struck a sweet spot here with their combo of a wide range of animals that we still check back in on - never mind the mentioned stunning soundtrack (What song is that? Anyone know?) and CGI.
For comparison, in terms of Ice Age Giants as a whole I would probably give it a 20% or so rating. Haven't seen it but I really hate the expectation-crushing the talking head-free trailer does and am not big on most talking head documentaries anyway.
In fact, the high rating I give the trailer on its own plays into the low rating of the documentary. A 10/10 trailer to be so misleading just sucks.
