Walking with Dinosaurs

Outstanding animation but nothing new

One of my expectations when I first saw the trailer of this movie is that it would be a journey in my mind to travel – something new to be learned and watched about dinosaurs. But ofcourse, expectations are not always met.

With its live background filmed in New Zealand, my eyes were captivated to its exceptional graphics and animation of the dinosaurs. However, just like the usual kiddy movies, the story is a commonplace –there’s nothing new along with its unclear plot.

Anyway, the story started out with an enthusiastic kid and a skulking teen with their paleontologist uncle bringing them to dig in to a site. The fact that the skulking one isn’t interested about dinosaur fossils is like showing the audience that not everyone’s really interested about dinosaurs. But suddenly, a raven popped out of nowhere, narrates them the amazing “Walking with Dinosaurs” story, then the teen gets interested.

 So what’s the story?

The raven, known as Alex, turns in to an Alexornis and was  a symbiotic friend of the main character. A tribe of Pachyrinosaurus migrates from a land because of climate change. The main “Pachyrinosaurus” there is called “Patchi”, whose head has a hole that whistles, making him recognized by the group. He’s always with his brother “Skyler” ever since their father died fighting another type of dinosaur to protect them.

The movie goes  along with different types of dinosaurs being featurized out of nowhere. At some point, I felt like they wanted to turn this movie in to a documentary because this “featurizing” of dinosaurs took, I guess, a little bit long, with its corny and so-so jokes.

The catch: I never thought it would end being  a love story. A pack of T-rex like creature attacks the tribe and the adults and the young got separated. Juniper, another young Pachyrinosaurus and Patchi’s crush, jumped off the river  with a strong current and Patchi followed, along with his brother. Don’t worry. They survived. The river’s current slowed down by a huge rock and Juniper got hit there, consequently getting an injury on her front leg. Patchi accompanied her and Skyler was a bit annoyed. While they were walking near to the shore, they saw another group of non-attacking dinosaurs set in, walking, not interested to bother the three. From there, Skyler separated from Patchi and joined these dinosaurs. So, yeah. Patchi and Juniper were left together, and all the romance flows over in.

A few years later, they were already adults and the leader of the tribe wanted to challenge Patchi. Patchi felt afraid and unsure but suddenly, Skyler appears, moves Patchi away,and challenges the leader. Fortunately, he won. What’s sad is that he’s also in love with Juniper, and so she had to be by his side in front of the tribe, leaving Patchi no choice. Skyler was filled with angst and pride for I don’t know what reason and he made strict rules. There on they continue with their long migration. But somewhere along the way  while they were walking on ice, Patchi felt that the ice is going to break and that they should go back. He warned Skyler but he wouldn’t listen. The ice suddenly cracks and Patchi tells everybody to retreat and go back to where they came from. From there on, he becomes the leader of the tribe, and gets his love back.

Meh.

I felt cloyed. For a teenager, I’m expecting more action on screen. But suddenly….it turns to romance, like one of those princess movies. Despite that fact, I love dinosaurs and I enjoy watching them. The first part gave me thrills the same way as it did when I was a kiddo. For the graphics, the animators are much to be thanked for. For the story, I’m sorry – it doesn’t deserve much praise as it ought to have.

Where in life do I give up responsibility?

Blaming is a no-no.

               Sure, everybody – whether young or an adult, is responsible for their own little things in life. But do they know what responsibility means? For me, responsibility, otherwise known as “accountability”, is being liable for a duty a person was assigned. I, like everyone else, is expected to be held responsible for what I am taking control of. But this “responsibility” has its limits. I think that this “limit” is when I start to be responsible for another’s life or problems, which is something I cannot control. I believe that one person is not accountable to another’s life or problems because they were the ones given the responsibility for that and they shouldn’t blame anybody.

                Let me give you an overview of my responsibilities. Well, first, I am responsible for this life I have been given. I don’t like blaming my parents if something unexpected popped out of my life. It’s saddening to blame someone for which they have no sway of. My parents gave me what I need, and I in turn, have to make use of these needs. My parents have given me advice, have protected me since birth, and now that I’m close to adulthood, they slowly started to give me more freedom. For example, there was this time when I got an injury during an activity in school because I didn’t have enough sleep, and I complained to my parents.  Later on, I realized that my parents always told me to take care of myself because I’m responsible for whatever I’m doing. Second, I’m in charge  of my studies. Responsibility in school is much like disciplining myself. Whatever I’ve been tasked to do, I should do. I can’t assign a friend or two to do my homework – then blame them if the answer is wrong. After all, it was my homework, not theirs. Thirdly, I’m responsible for whatever I have to do at home, like chores. I have been given this home to live in, and I’m then tasked to take care of it. So where does this responsibility ends?

Advising somebody.

 I do my best to give a great advice based on my experience whenever my friends or just random people ask for one. But in my opinion, it’s impertinent to blame someone if this advice fails them, and when things don’t go the way they wa
nted to. They asked for my advice. But I’m not responsible for what they have done. It’s their life, and it’s their problem. Why would I be held accountable for it?  If my advice led to another path, then they should have had their other options. It was just an advice after all. I didn’t tell them to necessarily follow what I said. After all, we are all responsible with our own life and problems. We don’t have the right to blame anybody with it.

`               As what John C. Maxwell said, “The greatest day in our life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes.”

We are responsible for our own attitude, actions and problems. Likewise, blaming is a no-no.