Sea Monsters 3-D

The IMAX “Sea Monsters 3-D” was quite the educational experience. While the IMAX was very entertaining, it incorporated discovery learning throughout the film. From the moment I put my 3-D glasses on, I felt like I was in another time and place. As the movie plunged us deep into the sea, I essentially felt like I was part of everything that was going on around me. All of the creatures seemed so realistic and accurate for the time era and made me instantly feel like a part of their environment. The story was focused around a newly formed family of Dolichorhynchops, an ancient fish that was somewhat of a combination between a penguin and a dolphin, and followed them throughout their life span. The main character is the female newborn who the narrator refers to as “Dolly”. We swam along with them as they searched for food and learned to live in the vast expanse of sea surrounding them. As they ventured out to sea, we were introduced to a number of curious creatures such as the long-necked Styxosaurus, giant turtles, enormous fish, fierce sharks, and the most dangerous sea monster of all, the Tilosaurus.

This ocean was the most dangerous of all time and provides the audience with a number of thrilling adventures as they come face to face with some of the most awe inspiring creatures ever to set foot on this planet. Although the Dolly is young, she is still faced with a number of serious struggles throughout the duration of the film. Not only is her mother killed, but also a Platecarpus eats her brother and she is bitten by a Cretoxyrhina, a huge shark.

These events help the audience fully comprehend the nature of these creatures. They allow them to see exactly how the food chain in this era functioned and how it was every animal for himself. As the Earth evolved, these amazing creatures died off, but somewhere in the soil, their legacy still lives on.


Similarly, a side plot of the film followed several paleontologists as they uncovered the secrets of the female Dolly’s life by digging her up at a campground located in Kansas. This modern day tale combined with the story of the Dolly made the movie more realistic and educational. Not only did it focus on this one specific instance of a fossil uncovering, but also related other creatures in the film back to their famous discoveries during recent history.
By linking these two ideas together, the movie was able to effectively prove the interconnectedness of all prehistoric creatures and living things in general. Although the Earth has evolved throughout time, we all still remain connected through the circle of life. This story illustrates merely one instance of this cycle of life beginning with the birth of the Dolly in the warm waters of the shore and continually returning there until her death many years later. This idea of life springing from death is a driving force behind the message of the film and is seen over and over again throughout history. It is up to us to uncover the secrets that the past holds in it depths, and the discovery of the Dolly with the shark’s tooth in her fin is only just the beginning.

Overall, “Sea Monsters 3-D” was an incredible experience. Not only did I learn a lot about prehistoric creatures of the deep, but also learned a lot about the Earth and its unique way of bonding everything together. The presentation was extremely entertaining and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I cannot wait for my next encounter with the IMAX so I can jump into another enlightening masterpiece.