Dinosaur 13: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
When Paleontologist Peter Larson and his team from the Black Hills Institute made the world’s greatest dinosaur discovery in 1990, they knew it was the find of a lifetime; the largest, most complete T. Rex ever found. But during a ten-year battle with the U.S. government, powerful museums, Native American tribes, and competing paleontologists they found themselves not only fighting to keep their dinosaur but fighting for their freedom as well.
As a kid I was extremely interested in paleontology and archeology so I was really surprised that I hadn’t heard of this story at all. Within 5 minutes I was completely pulled into the story. Just the fact that they found such a thing was amazing but it was the events that followed that actually got me upset. They document how the government came in and confiscated the T. Rex and every other fossil they had. That was the part got me fairly mad. It’s horrible that the government chose to make “an example” out of Peter Larson because of a miscommunication or simply overlooking paperwork. You can tell that when seeing the interviews with everyone involved that there was no maliciousness behind what they were doing, they were just simply doing something they loved and got shafted in the end. I tend to find myself rooting for the underdog and this is exactly what this documentary entailed. I can understand the legalities behind what may have happened but to make an example out of the “little guy” was down right ridiculous and unfair to me. There you have it, if a film can garner an emotional response from someone such as myself then you know that what you have is a story that is compelling and worthy of being told. This was an awesome documentary with enough drama to rival any theatrical film. A must see for sure!
Special Features:
Deleted Scenes – Only a few extra scenes here that might as well have been edited in.
The Continuing Story of Sue – This feature gives some additional information on Sue.
Fossil Whales of Peru – A really quick documentary that runs about almost 6 minutes.
Complete Auction of Sue – Video footage from the actual auction of the beloved fossil.
How to Build a Dinosaur – this short feature shows how the tech guys assemble a dinosaur fossil.
